The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 


From  If  ugao  to  Kalinga 


A  Ride  Through  the  Mountains  of 
Northern  Luzon 


With  an  Appendix  on  the  Independence  of  the 
Philippines 


BY 
CORNELIS  DE  WITT  WILLCOX, 

Lieutenant-Colonel  U.  S.  Army,  Trofessor 


United  States  Military  Academy, 


KANSAS  CITY,   Mo.,  U.  S.  A. 

FRANKLIN   HUDSON  PUBLISHING  Co., 

1912. 


Copyright  1912 

By 
Franklin  Hudson  Publishing  Company. 


AN  IGOROT  WARRIOR. 
Drawn  from  life  by  Julian  Miller. 


TO 

J.  G.   H 


255815 


J 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 
LIST  OFTILLUSTRATIONS 9 

PREFACE -    J  i 

CHAPTER'I T3 

Highlanders  of  Northern  Luzon. — Meaning  of  the  word 
Igorrote. — Trails. — The  Mountain  Province. — Nature  of 
the  country. 

CHAPTER  II 21 

Annual  inspection  of  the  mountain  tribes. — We  set  out 
from  Baguio. — Pangasinan  Province. — Agno  River. — 
Reception  by  the  people. 

CHAPTER  III 30 

Padre  Juan  Villaverde. — His  great  trail. — The  beginning 
of  the  mountain  journey. — Nozo. 

CHAPTER  IV 37 

Early  start. — Pine  forest. — Vegetation. — Rest  at  Amugan. 
— The  gansa  — Bone. 

CHAPTER  V 45 

Aritao. — Bubud. — Dupax. — Start  for  Campote. 

CHAPTER  VI 50 

The  Ilongots  and  their  country. — Efforts  of  'our  Govern- 
ment to  reach  these  people — The  forest  trail. — Our 
first  contact  with  the  wild  man. 

CHAPTER  VII 56 

School  at  Campote. — Our  white  pony,  and  the  offer  made 
for  his  tail. 

CHAPTER  VIII 62 

Appearance  of  the  Ilongots. — Dress. — Issue  of  beads  and 
cloth. — Warrior  Dance. — School  work. — Absence  of  old 
women  from  meeting. 

CHAPTER  IX 73 

Return  to  civilisation. — Reception  at  Bambang. — Ag.'i- 
payanos  and  Protestants. 

CHAPTER  X 78 

Magat  River. — Enthusiastic  reception  at  Bayombong. — 
Speeches  and  reports. — Solano. — Ifugao  "college  yell." 
— Bagabag. 

CHAPTER  XI 88 

We  enter  the  Mountain  Province. — Payawan. — Kiangan, 
its  position. — Anitos. — Speech  of  welcome  by  Ifugao 
chief. — Detachment  of  native  Constabulary. — Visit  of 
Ifugao  chiefs  to  our  quarters. — Dancing. 


8  The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

PAGE 

CHAPTER  XII 104 

Day  opens  badly. — Ifugao  houses. — The  people  assemble. 
— Dancing.  —  Speeches.  —  White  paper  streamers.  — 
^   Head-hunter  Dance. — Canao. 

CHAPTER  XIII 1 17 

Dress  of  the  people. — Butchery  of  carabao. — Prisoner  runs 
amok  and  is  killed. 

CHAPTER  XIV 126 

Barton's  account  of  a  native  funeral. 

CHAPTER  XV 139 

Visit  to  the  Silipan  Ifugaos  at  Andangle. — The  Ibilao 
River. — Athletic  feat. — Rest-house  and  stable  at  Sabig. 

CHAPTER  XVI 148 

Change  in  aspect  of  country. — Mount  Amuyao  and  the 
native  legend  of  the  Flood. — Rice  terraces. — Benawe. — 
Mr.  Worcester's  first  visit  to  this  region. — Sports. — 
Absence  of  weapons. — Native  arts  and  crafts. 

CHAPTER  XVII 162 

We  ride  to  Bontok. — Bat-nets. — Character  of  the  country. 
— Ambawan. — Difficulties  of  the  trail. — Bird-scarers. — 
Talubin. — Bishop  Carroll  of  Vigan. — We  reach  Bon- 
tok.—  "The  Star-spangled  Banner." — Appearance  of 
the  Bontok  Igorot  — Incidents. 

CHAPTER  XVIII i?9 

Importance  of  Bontok  — Head-taking  — Atonement  for 
bloodshed. — Sports. — Slapping  game. 

CHAPTER  XIX 190 

The  native  village. — Houses. — Pit-a-pit. — Native  insti- 
tutions.— Lumawig. 

CHAPTER  XX 199 

We    push    on   north. — Banana  skirts. — Albino  child. — Pine 
uplands. — Glorious  view. 

CHAPTER  XXI 205 

Deep  Valley. — A  poor  rancher ia. — Escort  of  boys. — De- 
scent of  Tinglayan  Hill. — Sullen  reception  at  Tinglayan. 
— Bangad. — First  view  of  the  Kalingas. — Arrival  at 
Lubuagan. 

CHAPTER  XXII 221 

Splendid  appearance  of  the  Kalingas. — Dancing. — Lubu- 
agan. — Basi. — Councils. — Bustles  and  braids. — Jewels 
and  weapons. — Excellent  houses. 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.  9 

CHAPTER  XXIII 234 

We  leave  the  mountains.  —  Nanong.  —  Passage  of  the 
Chico. — The  Apayao. — Tabuk. — The  party  breaks  up. 
—Desolate  plain — The  Cagayan  Valley. — Enrile. 

CHAPTER  XXIV 247 

Tobacco  industry. — Tuguegarao. — Caves. — The  Cagayan 
River.  —  Barangayans.  —  Aparri.  —  Island  of  Fuga. — 
Sail  for  Manila. — Stop  at  Vigan. — Arrival  at  Manila. 

CHAPTER  XXV 262 

Future  of  the  Highlanders. — Origin  of  our  effort  to  im- 
prove their  condition. — Impolicy  of  any  change  in  pres- 
ent administration.  Transfer  of  control  of  wild  tribes 
to  Christianized  Filipinos. — Comparison  of  our  course 
with  that  of  the  Japanese  in  Formosa. 

APPENDIX 281 

LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGB 

An  Igorot  Warrior 2 

Hon.  Dean  C.  Worcester 19 

Views  of  the  Benguet  Road 20 

Working  on  the  Benguet  Road 25,  26 

Padre  Juan  Villaverde 35 

Benguet  Road,  Zig-zag 36 

Tree  Fern,  Province  of  Bontok 41 

Ilongot  Women 42 

Native  Policemen 47 

Reception  Committee  of  Ifugaos 48 

Mountain  Scene  in  the  Ifugao  Country 57 

Mountain  Scene  between  Benawe  and  Kiangan 58 

Inaba,  Ifugao  Village 63 

Ifugao  Couple  with  Adornments  of  a  Wedding  Ceremony 64 

Ifugao  Children 69 

Headless  Body  of  Ifugao  Warrior 70 

Ifugao  Warrior 79 

Typical  Ifugao  House 80 

Ifugao  Making  Rounds  of  Granary 85 

Anitos,  Kiangan 86 

Ifugao  Chief  Making  a  Speech 91 

Conference  between  Government  Officers  and  the  Headmen  of 

the  District .  .  . , 92 


io  The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

Ifugao  Head-hunter,  Full  Dress 101 

Head-hunter  Dance,  Kiangan 102,  107 

Dancing  at  Kiangan 108 

Ifugaos  Dancing. .  .  .  .- 113 

Silipan  Ifugao  Earring 114 

Ifugaos  Dancing,  Benawe 123 

Crossing  Ibilao  River  by  Flying  Trolley 124 

Ifugao  Head  Dance 133 

Rice  Terraces  at  Benawe 134,  143 

Body  of  Igorot  Girl  Prepared  for  Burial 144 

Carabao  Fight 153 

Igorot  Tribunal 154 

A  Bontok  Igorot  House 163 

Igorot  Rice  Fields 164 

On  the  Trail  from  Benguet  to  Cervantes 169 

Bontok  Igorot  Woman 170 

Elaborate  Tattooing  of  the  Head-hunter 175 

Bontok  Igorot  Constabulary  Soldiers 185 

Bontok  Igorot  Slapping  Game 186,  191 

Gansas  with  Human  Jaws  as  Handles 192 

Women  and  Girls  Wearing  Banana-leaf  Skirts 197 

New  School-house,  Bontok 198 

Valley  of  the  Rio  Chico 207 

Kalinga  Girl 210 

Looking  Down  the  Rio  Chico 211 

Spiral  Camote  Patch 216 

Madallam,  Kalinga  Headman 219 

Two  Headmen  of  Lubuagan 220 

Kalinga  Warriors 229 

Typical  Kalinga  House '. 230 

Conference  at  Lubuagan 239 

View  of  Lubuagan,  Capital  of  Kalinga 240 

Kalinga  Head-ax 249 

Igorot  Shield 250 

Ifugao  Carved  Bowl 259 

Ifugao  Pipe,  Carved  Figure,  and  Wooden  Spoon 260 

Carved  Wooden  Figurines 269 

Map  of  Northern  Luzon 270 


PREFACE. 


In  1910  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  of  the 
Philippine  Islands  did  me  the  honor  to  invite  me 
to  accompany  him  on  his  annual  tour  of  inspection 
through  the  Mountain  Province  of  Northern  Luzon. 
In  the  following  pages  I  have  tried  to  describe  what 
fell  under  my  notice  during  the  journey,  with  such 
comments,  observations,  and  conclusions  as  seemed 
pertinent. 

I  should  like  here  to  thank  Mr.  Worcester  for 
having  invited  me  to  join  him,  and  Major-General 
Duvall,  United  States  Army,  for  allowing  me  to 
accept.  My  thanks  are  also  due  the  various  offi- 
cers and  officials  of  the  Insular  Government  who 
placed  me  under  obligations  by  their  hospitality  and 
other  courtesies  and  by  the  never-failing  patience 
with  which  they  received  and  answered  my  many 
questions.  To  my  friend  Colonel  J.  G.  Harbord, 
United  States  Army,  Assistant  Director  of  Constab- 
ulary, I  am  beholden  for  instructions  sent  out  in 
advance  of  the  journey  to  the  various  Constabulary 
posts  on  the  itinerary,  directing  them  to  offer  me 
every  opportunity  to  accomplish  the  purpose  of  my 


1 2  Preface. 

trip.  Except  where  otherwise  indicated,  the  illus- 
trations are  from  photographs  taken  either  by  Mr. 
Worcester  himself,  or  else  under  his  direction.  Some 
of  these,  as  shown,  were  lent  to  me  by  the  National 
Geographic  Magazine  of  Washington,  and  others  by 
the  Bureau  of  Insular  Affairs  of  the  War  Depart- 
ment. My  best  thanks  are  due  and  given  in  each 
case.  Dr.  Heiser  was  kind  enough  to  let  me  have 
a  few  photographs  taken  by  him.  To  Lieutenant 
P.  D.  Glassford,  2d  Regiment  of  Field  Artillery,  I 
am  indebted  for  the  map  of  Northern  Luzon  and 
for  one  or  two  other  illustrations  copied  from  Jenks' 
"The  Bontoc  Igorot";  to  Father  Malumbres,  of  the 
Dominican  Monastery  in  Manila,  for  information 
relating  to  Padre  Villaverde  and  for  the  portrait  of 
that  missionary;  it  is  to  be  regretted  that  this  por- 
trait should  be  so  unsatisfactory,  but  it  is  the  only 
one  available.  The  frontispiece  is  by  Mr.  Julian 
Miller,  who  has  lived  in  the  Igorot  country,  and 
whose  drawing  is  from  life. 

C.  DE  W.  W. 
West  Point,  N.  Y., 
January,  1912. 


CHAPTER  I. 


Highlanders  of  Northern  Luzon. — Meaning  of  the  word  "Igorot."- 
Trails. — The  Mountain  Province. — Nature  of  the  country. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  people  of  the 
United  States  should  in  general  show  so  little  in- 
terest in  the  Philippine  Islands.  This  lack  of  in- 
terest may  be  due  to  lack  of  knowledge;  if  this  be 
so,  then  it  is  the  duty  of  those  better  informed  to 
do  all  that  lies  in  their  power  to  develop  the  interest 
now  regrettably  absent.  Be  this  as  it  may,  it  is 
assumed  here  that  most  of  our  people  do  not  know 
that  a  very  large  fraction  of  the  inhabitants  of  the 
Philippines  consists  of  the  so-called  wild  men,  and 
that  of  these  the  greatest  group  or  collection  is 
found  in  the  mountains  of  Northern  Luzon. 

These  mountaineers  or  highlanders  constitute 
perhaps,  all  other  things  being  equal,  as  interesting 
a  body  of  uncivilized  people  as  is  to  be  found  on  the 
face  of  the  earth  to-day.  The  Spaniards,  of  course, 
soon  discovered  their  existence,  the  first  mention  of 
them  being  made  by  De  Morga,  in  his  "  Sucesos  de  las 
Islas  Filipinas"  (1609).  He  speaks*  of  them  as  in- 
habiting the  interior  of  a  rough  mountainous  coun- 

*See  Retana's  edition,  p.  183,  Madrid,  1909. 
13 


14  The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

try,  where  are  ''many  natives  who  are  not  pacified, 
nor  has  anyone  gone  into  their  country,  who  call 
themselves  Ygolotes."  Here  we  have  the  first  form, 
the  classic  form  according  to  Retana,  of  the  word 
now  universally  written  Igorrote,  or  in  English  I  go- 
rot.  The  word  itself  means  'Highlanders, "  golot  be- 
ing a  Tagalog  word  for  "mountain,"  and /a  prefix 
meaning  "people  of."  De  Morga  mentions  the 
"Ygolotes"  as  owning  *-'ch  mines  of  gold  and  silver, 
which  "they  work  as  there  is  need,"  and  he  goes  on 
to  say  that  in  spite  of  all  the  diligence  made  to  know 
their  mines,  and  how  they  work  and  improve  them, 
the  matter  has  come  to  naught,  "because  they  are 
cautious  with  the  Spaniards  who  go  to  them  in 
search  of  gold,  and  say  they  keep  it  better  guarded 
under  ground  than  in  their  houses." 

The  Spaniards  at  a  very  early  date  sent  armed 
exploring  parties  through  the  highlands  and  main- 
tained garrisons  here  and  there  down  to  our  own 
time.*  But  they  never  really  held  the  country. 

The  Church,  too,  early  entered  this  territory, 
the  field  being  given  over  to  the  Dominicans,f  who 

*It  is  interesting  to  note  that  as  late  as  1889  General  Weyler, 
then  Governor- General  of  the  Archipelago,  in  establishing  various 
comandancias ,  drew  up  regulations  for  the  treatment  of  the  natives, 
etc.,  as  remarkable  for  lenity  and  good  sense  as  his  later  measures 
in  Cuba  were,  whether  justly  or  not,  distinguished  for  severity. 

fFor  an  account  of  the  early  missions  of  this  order,  see  the 
Manila  Libertas  of  May  23,  1910. 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.  15 

furnished  many  devoted  missionaries  to  the  cause. 
But  here,  too,  failure  must  be  recorded  in  respect 
of  permanency  of  results  in  the  really  wild  parts  of 
the  Highlands.  It  has  remained  for  our  own  Gov- 
ernment to  get  a  real  hold  of  the  people  of  these 
regions,  to  win  their  confidence,  command  their  re- 
spect, and  exact  their  obedience  in  all  relations  in 
which  obedience  is  proper  and  just. 

The  indispensable  material  condition  of  suc- 
cess was  to  make  the  mountain  country  accessible. 
Only  those  who  have  had  the  fortune  to  travel 
through  this  country  can  realize  how  difficult  this 
endeavor  has  been  and  must  continue  to  be,  chiefly 
because  of  the  great  local  complexity  of  the  mountain 
system,  but  also  because  of  the  severely  destructive 
storms  of  this  region,  with  consequent  torrential 
violence  of  the  streams  affected.  But  little  money, 
too,  can  be,  or  has  been,  spent  for  the  necessary 
road-work.  In  spite  of  the  difficulties  involved, 
however,  a  system  of  road-making  has  been  set  on 
foot,  the  labor  needed  being  furnished  by  the  high- 
landers  themselves  in  lieu  of  a  road  tax.  Very 
briefly,  the  system  is  as  follows : 

(a)  The  first  thing  done  is  to  open  what  is 
known  as  the  " meter  trail,"  i.  e.,  a  trail  one  meter 
wide,  at  a  grade  not  to  exceed  6  per  cent,  and 
where  possible  to  be  kept  at  4  per  cent.  At  certain 


1 6  The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

points  where  the  absolute  necessity  exists,  a  10  per 
cent  grade  is  admissible  for  very  short  distances, 
as  at  river  crossings,  but  only  where  a  gentler  grade 
would  involve  a  long  detour  at  great  expense. 

This  "meter  trail"  weathers  for  one  year,  and 
thus  automatically  develops  its  own  weak  spots. 
These  are  repaired  as  fast  as  discovered  (which  is 
practically  at  once,  by  reason  of  constant  super- 
vision), and  the  trail  thus  hardens,  as  it  were,  into 
something  approaching  permanency. 

(b)  The  next  step  in  the  history  of  the  trail 
is  to  widen  it  to  two  meters,  the  same  general  course 
being  followed  as  outlined  in  (a) .     As  a  satisfactory 
state  of  permanency  is  reached  we  come  to 

(c)  The  final  widening,   draining,  and  metal- 
ling of  the  trail  to  accommodate  wagon  traffic.     The 
trail  now  becomes  a  permanent  road. 

In  many  cases  only  wooden  tools  have  been 
available,  and  the  lack  of  money  has  compelled  a 
sparing  use  of  explosives.  Nevertheless  under  this 
system  there  now  exist  in  the  Mountain  Province 
730  miles  of  excellent  horse  trail  of  easy  grade,*  and 
what  is  significant,  the  people  of  the  highlands  are 
using  these  trails,  and  so  becoming  peacefully  ac- 
quainted with  one  another. 

*Report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  Philippine  Islands, 
1910;  Washington  Government  Printing  Office,  1911. 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.  17 

The  Mountain  Province  itself  is  the  outcome 
of  the  difficulties  encountered  in  governing  the  wild 
tribes  so  long  as  these  were  left  in  provinces  where 
either  their  interests  were  not  paramount,  or  else 
the  difficulties  of  administration  were  unduly  costly 
or  difficult.  Established  in  1908,  it  has  a  Governor, 
and  each  of  its  seven  sub-provinces  a  Lieutenant- 
Governor,  the  sub-province  as  far  as  possible  in- 
cluding people  of  one  and  of  only  one  tribe.  The 
creation  of  this  province  was  a  great  step  forward 
in  promoting  the  welfare  of  the  highlanders. 

A  word  must  be  said  here  in  explanation  of 
the  nomenclature  of  the  mountain  tribes.  Generic- 
ally,  having  in  mind  the  meaning  of  the  word,  they 
are  all  Igorots.  But  it  is  the  practice  to  distinguish 
the  various  elements  of  this  great  family  by  dif- 
ferent names,  restricting  the  term  "  Igorot "  to  special 
branches,  as  Benguet  Igorot,  Bontok  Igorot,  mean- 
ing those  who  live  in  Benguet  or  Bontok.  The 
other  members  are  known  as  Ifugao,  Ilongot,  Ka- 
linga,  and  so  on.*  Lastly,  the  following  extract 
from  the  "  Census  of  the  Philippine  Islands  "f  gives 
some  idea  of  the  mountain  system  in  which  dwell 
the  people  whom  we  are  about  to  visit. 

*See  "Census  of  the  Philippine  Islands,"  Vol.  I.,  p.  453    et 
seq.,  for  a  discussion  of  the  non-Christian  tribes. 
fVol.  I.,  p.  60  et  seq. 


1 8  The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

/ 

"West  of  this  Valley  [the  Cagayan]  and  sep- 
arating it  from  the  China  Sea,  stands  a  broad  and 
complex  system  of  mountains,  known  as  the  Cara- 
ballos  Occidentales.  Its  length  is  nearly  200  miles, 
and  its  breadth,  including  the  great  spurs  and  sub- 
ordinate ranges  and  ridges  on  either  side,  is  fully 
one-third  its  length.  The  central  range  of  the  sys- 
tem forms  the  divide  between  the  waters  flowing 
to  Cagayan  River  on  the  east  and  those  flowing  to 
the  China  Sea  on  the  west.  Its  northern  part  bears 
the  name  Cordillera  Norte.  Farther  south  it  is 
called  Cordillera  Central,  while  the  southern  por- 
tion is  called  Cordillera  Sur."  "At  its  south  end 
the  Cordillera  Sur  swings  to  the  east,  and,  under 
the  name  of  Caraballos  Sur,  joins  the  Sierra  Madre, 
or  East  Coast  Range." 

This  description,  it  must  be  understood,  gives 
no  adequate  idea  of  the  local  intricacy  of  the  sys- 
tem, while  at  the  same  time  it  is  precisely  this  in- 
tricacy, both  vertical  and  horizontal,  that  increases 
the  cost  and  difficulty  of  making  roads,  and  that  has 
served  in  the  past  to  keep  the  inhabitants  of  these 
regions  apart. 


U    3J 
* 


s§ 

Q'S 


VIEW  ON  THE  BENGUET  ROAD. 

At  this  point  the  line  crosses  back  to  the  right  bank  of 
the  Bued  River. 


CHAPTER  II. 


Annual  inspection  of  the  mountain  tribes. — We  set  out  from  Ba- 
guio. — Pangasinan  Province. — Agno  River. — Reception  by  the 
people. 

Every  year  Mr.  Worcester  makes  a  formal  tour 
of  inspection  through  the  Mountain  Province  to 
note  the  progress  of  the  trails  and  roads,  to  listen 
to  complaints,  to  hear  reports,  devise  ways  and 
means  of  betterment  and  in  general  to  see  how  the 
hillmen  are  getting  on.  This  tour  is  a  very  great 
affair  to  the  highlanders,  who  are  assembled  in  as 
great  numbers  as  possible  at  the  various  points 
where  stops  are  made ;  during  the  stay  of  the  "  Com- 
mission" (as  Mr.  Worcester  is  universally  called  by 
the  highlanders)  at  the  points  of  assemblage,  the 
wild  people  are  subsisted  by  the  Government. 

The  trip  is  long  and  hard,  nor  is  it  altogether 
free  from  danger.  Preparations  have  to  be  made 
two  months  ahead  to  have  forage  for  animals,  and 
food  for  human  beings,  at  the  expected  halts,  while 
everything  eaten  by  man  or  beast  on  the  way  must 
be  carried  by  the  cargadores  (bearers)  who  accom- 
pany the  column,  since  living  off  the  country  is  in 
general  impossible.  Under  these  circumstances  but 

21 


22  The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

very  few  guests  can  be  invited.  I  was  so  fortunate 
as  to  be  one  of  these  in  1910;  how  fortunate,  I  did 
not  realize  until  the  trip  was  over.  For  although  an 
American  may  ride  alone  unmolested  through  the 
country  we  visited,  still  he  would  see  only  what 
might  fall  under  his  eye  as  he  made  his  way ;  where- 
as, on  this  official  trip,  thousands  of  people  are 
brought  together  at  designated  points,  and  one  can 
thus  do  and  see  in  a  month  what  it  would  take  a 
much  longer  time  to  do  and  see  under  one's  own 
efforts. 

This  year  (1910)  the  party  was  made  up  of 
Mr.  Cameron  Forbes,  the  Governor-General  of  the 
Philippine  Islands;  Mr.  Worcester,  Secretary  of  the 
Interior;  Dr.  Heiser,  Director  of  Health;  Dr.  Strong, 
Chief  of  the  Biological  Laboratory;  Mr.  Pack,  Gov- 
ernor of  the  Mountain  Province;  and  of  two  offi- 
cers besides  myself,  Captain  Cootes,  i3th  Cavalry, 
Aide  de  Camp  to  the  Governor-General,  and  Captain 
Van  Schaick,  i6th  Infantry,  Governor  of  Mindoro. 
General  Sir  Harry  Broadwood,  commanding  His 
Majesty's  forces  at  Hong  Kong,  had  been  invited, 
but  at  the  last  moment  cabled  that  his  duties  would 
prevent  his  coming.  Unless  he  reads  this  book  he 
will  never  know  what  he  missed!  As  we  passed 
through  the  various  sub-provinces  their  respective 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.  23 

governors  and  one  or  two  officials  would  join  us 
and  ride  to  the  boundary. 

On  account  of  the  difficulties  of  supply  and 
transportation,  we  were  requested  to  bring  no  mu- 
chachos  (boys — i.  e.,  servants),  so  we  had  to  shift 
for  ourselves.  Our  baggage  was  very  strictly  lim- 
ited; each  man  being  allowed  two  parcels,  one  of 
bedding,  and  the  other  of  clothes,  neither  to  be 
more  than  could  be  easily  carried  on  the  back  of  a 
single  cargador.  Mr.  Worcester  took  along  for  the 
whole  party  an  ingenious  apparatus  of  his  own  con- 
trivance for  boiling  drinking-water,  as  all  streams 
in  the  Philippines  at  a  level  lower  than  6,000  feet 
have  been  found  to  contain  amoebae,*  the  parasitic 
presence  of  which  in  the  intestines  produces  that 
frightful  disease,  amoebic  dysentery.  We  were  es- 
pecially desired  to  leave  our  revolvers  at  home, 
and  had  no  escort. 

Accordingly,  our  mounts  and  kit  having  been 
sent  on  a  day  or  two  in  advance,  we  set  out  from 
Baguio  in  motor-cars,  April  26,  at  eight  A.  M.,  of 
an  extraordinarily  fine  day.  The  day  before  it  had 
rained  mercilessly;  not  only  that,  but  clouds  and 
mists  had  enveloped  us  so  that  one  could  not  see 

*Mr.  A.  H.  Savage  Landor,  in  his  "Gems  of  the  East,"  pro- 
tests against  our  practice  of  boiling  water  before  drinking  it,  but 
the  experience  of  others  is  against  him.  He  was  simply  fortunate 
in  not  being  made  ill  by  the  natural  water. 


24  The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

twenty  yards  ahead.  We  were  nearing  the  rainy 
season,  and  conditions  were  uncertain,  but  this 
morning  the  gods  were  on  our  side  and  we  could 
not  have  asked  for  better  weather.  We  went  down 
the  splendid  Benguet  Road,  following  the  bed  of 
the  Bued  River*  to  the  railway,  a  drop  of  over 
4,000  feet  in  thirteen  miles.  Strange  to  say,  the 
stream  had  not  risen  at  all,  a  fortunate  circum- 
stance, as  one  hundred  and  sixty  bridges  are  crossed 
in  the  drop,  and  at  times  a  rise  will  wash  out  not 
only  the  bridges,  but  all  semblance  of  a  road.f  At 
the  railway  we  turned  south  over  the  great  plain 
of  Pangasinan.  This,  in  respect  of  roads,  is  the 
show  province  of  the  Archipelago  and  deserves  its 
reputation,  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles  having 
been  built.  Those  we  passed  over  this  day  would 
have  been  called  good  in  France  even.  Our  pass- 
age was  of  the  nature  of  a  progress,  thanks  to  the 
presence  of  the  Governor-General.  Simple  bamboo 
arches  crossing  the  road  greeted  us  everywhere,  Mr. 
Forbes  punctiliously  raising  his  hat  under  every  one. 

*An  attempt  has  been  made  to  stock  this  river  with  trout, 
but  it  has  proved  a  failure.  The  fish  grew  and  throve,  but  did 
not  breed. 

tThis  happened  on  a  large  scale  in  the  spring  of  this  year 
(1912).  Landslides  having  occurred  on  both  banks  of  the  cation,  and 
as  luck  would  have  it,  at  the  same  point,  the  waters  rose  behind  the 
natural  dam  thus  formed  to  a  height  of  over  one  hundred  feet,  and 
breaking  through,  scoured  the  valley  in  their  sweep,  completely 
wiping  out  the  road. 


WORKING  ON  THE  BENGUET  ROAD. 


WORKING  ON  THE  BENGUET  ROAD. 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.  27 

All  the  villages  had  decorated  their  houses;  hand- 
kerchiefs, petticoats,  red  table-cloths,  anything  and 
everything  had  been  hung  out  of  the  windows  by 
way  of  flags  and  banners.  Across  the  front  of  the 
municipal  building  of  one  village  was  stretched  a 
banner  with  this  inscription,  "En  honor  de  la  venida 
del  Gobernador  General  y  de  su  Comitiva"  ("  In  honor 
of  the  arrival  of  the  Governor-General  and  of  his 
retinue"),  and  then  below  on  the  next  band,  " De- 
seamos  tener  un  pozo  artesiano"  (We  should  like  to 
have  an  Artesian  well"),  which  led  Mr.  Worcester 
to  remark  that  four  years  before  the  banner  would 
have  demanded  "  independencia"  (independence), 
and  not  an  Artesian  well. 

Even  in  Pangasinan,  good  roads  must  come  to 
an  end,  and  ours  did  as  we  neared  the  Agno  River. 
For  this  blessed  river  is  a  curse  to  its  neighborhood, 
and  rises  in  flood  from  a  stream  say  seventy-five 
yards  wide  to  a  rushing  lake,  if  the  expression  be 
permitted,  half  a  mile  and  more  across.  Our  car 
finally  refused  to  move;  its  wheels  simply  turned 
in  situ,  so  deep  was  the  sand.  There  was  nothing 
for  it  but  to  walk  to  the  river  bank,  where  we  were 
met  with  many  apologies.  A  bamboo  bridge  had 
been  built  across  the  stream  a  few  days  before  so 
that  our  cars  might  cross,  but  yesterday's  rain  had 
washed  it  down,  and  would  we  try  to  cross  on  rafts? 


28  The  Plead  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

We  looked  at  the  rafts,  bamboo  platforms  built 
over  large  bancas  (canoes,  double-enders  cut  out  of 
a  single  log),  the  bamboos  being  lashed  together 
with  bejuco  (rattan,  the  native  substitute  for  nails), 
and  decided  that  no  self-respecting  motor  would 
stand  such  transportation,  but  would  go  to  the  bot- 
tom first  by  overturning.  So  we  got  our  stuff  aboard 
the  rafts,  were  poled  over,  and  made  the  rest  of 
the  journey  to  Tayug,  our  first  considerable  halt, 
in  carromatas  (the  native  two- wheeled,  springless 
cart).  Fortunately  the  distance  was  short,  the  car- 
romata  being  an  instrument  of  torture  happily  over- 
looked by  the  Spanish  Inquisition. 

At  Tayug  a  great  concourse  of  people  welcomed 
us,  with  arches,  flags,  and  decorations.  The  pres- 
idencia,  or  town  hall,  was  filled  with  the  notabil- 
ities, and  Mr.  Forbes  was  presented  with  an  address 
by  one  of  the  senoritas.  Suitable  answer  having 
been  made,  we  adjourned,  the  men  first,  the  women 
following  when  we  had  done,  according  to  native 
custom,  to  the  side  rooms,  where  a  surprisingly  good 
tiffin  had  been  got  ready  for  us,  venison,  chickens, 
French  rolls,  dulces  (sweets),  whiskey  and  soda, 
Heaven  knows  what  else,  to  which,  all  unwitting  of 
our  doom,  we  did  full  justice.  About  two  miles  be- 
yond Tayug  lies  San  Francisco,  the  initial  point  of 
our  real  mounted  journey.  The  people  along  this 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.  29 

part  of  the  road  had  simply  outdone  themselves  in 
the  matter  of  arches,  there  being  one  at  every  hun- 
dred yards  almost.  At  San  Francisco  the  crowd 
was  greater  than  at  Tayug;  and  here  was  set  out 
for  us  another  sumptuous  tiffin,  in  a  house  built  the 
day  before  for  this  very  purpose,  of  bamboo  and 
nipa  palm.  Access  to  it  was  had  by  a  ladder  and 
we  sat  down  at  a  table,  while  the  senoras  of  the 
place  waited  on  us,  every  inch  of  standing-room 
being  occupied  by  people  who  had  crowded  in  to 
see  the  performance  of  the  Governor- General  and  of 
his  comitiva!  And  perform  we  did — we  had  to! 
Ducks,  chickens,  venison,  camotes  (sweet  potatoes), 
peppers,  beer,  red  wine — no  one  would  have  thought 
that  but  three-quarters  of  an  hour  before  we  had 
just  gone  through  the  same  thing.  But  it  would 
have  been  the  height  of  discourtesy  to  give  way  to 
our  inclination  by  showing  a  lack  of  appetite;  more- 
over, it  is  not  often  that  a  party  is  held  in  a  house 
built  to  be  used  merely  one  hour.  So  we  did  honor  to 
the  occasion,  but  had  to  let  out  our  belts  before 
mounting  immediately  afterward. 


CHAPTER  III. 


Padre  Juan  Villaverde. — His  great   trail. — The   beginning  of  the 
mountain  journey. — Nozo. 

The  point  to  which  we  had  come,  San  Francisco, 
marks  the  beginning  of  the  Juan  Villaverde  trail 
from  the  Central  Valley  of  Luzon  through  the  moun- 
tains before  us,  to  the  province  of  Nueva  Vizcaya. 
All  day  the  chain  we  were  to  pierce  had  been  in 
sight,  and  I  for  one  had  been  wondering  where  we 
were  to  find  a  practicable  entrance,  so  forbiddingly 
vertical  did  the  range  appear  to  be. 

Now  the  Spaniards  in  the  Philippines  at  best 
were  but  poor  road-  or  trail-makers.  Indeed,  in  the 
matter  of  trails  they  were  simply  stupid,  in  some 
cases  actually  going  straight  up  a  hill  and  down 
the  other  side,  when  the  way  around  was  no  longer, 
and  of  course  far  easier  to  maintain.  But  Padre 
Juan  Villaverde  of  the  Dominicans  was  a  great  and 
honorable  exception.  Quite  apart  from  this  aspect, 
we  hear  so  much  that  is  evil  of  the  friars  that  it  is 
a  pleasure,  when  possible,  to  point  out  the  good 
they  did,  a  thing  more  frequently  possible  than 
people  imagine  it  is.  For  Father  Villaverde  gave 

30 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.  31 

his  life  to  missionary  work  among  the  hill-people, 
seeking  in  every  way  to  better  their  condition  ma- 
terially as  well  as  morally.  Born  in  1841,  as  early 
as  1868  we  find  him  on  duty  at  Bayombong,  in 
Nueva  Vizcaya,  the  province  we  were  about  to 
enter.  From  the  first  he  seems  to  have  been  im- 
pressed by  the  possibilities  of  the  country  in  which 
he  was  laboring;  and,  foreseeing  that  good  com- 
munications would  ultimately  settle  most  of  the 
questions  relating  to  the  highlanders,  he  built  trails, 
trails  that  are  still  in  use,  whereas  nearly  all  the 
others  (but  few  in  number)  established  by  the  Span- 
iards have  been  abandoned  by  us,  where  Nature  has 
not  indeed  saved  us  the  trouble  by  washing  them 
out  of  existence.  For  thirty  years  Villa verde  worked 
unceasingly,  building  roads  and  bridges  and  churches, 
and  striving  to  civilize  the  people  among  whom  he 
lived;  but  his  chief  work,  that  by  which  his  memory 
is  kept  green  to  this  day,  is  the  great  trail  from  the 
otherwise  almost  inaccessible  province  of  Nueva 
Vizcaya,  across  the  Caraballos  to  the  Central  Val- 
ley of  Luzon,  where  access  to  the  outer  world  by 
rail  becomes  possible.  This  trail  is  officially  des- 
ignated by  his  name,  and  is  maintained  by  Govern- 
ment. This  was  the  one  we  were  about  to  enter 


32  The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

upon.*  Accordingly  we  thanked  our  kind  hosts  of 
San  Francisco;  and  at  last  set  out  on  our  real. trip. 
But,  curious  and  eager  as  I  felt  to  engage  upon  it, 
I  could  not  help  regretting  that  this  part  of  our 
journey  was  over,  that  we  had  to  turn  our  backs 
on  the  smiling  plains  of  Pangasinan,  its  hospitable 
and  courteous  people.  The  day  had  been  so  cool 
and  fresh,  and  our  progress  so  easy;  flat  as  was  the 
country,  it  had  its  charm,  the  charm  of  cultivated 
plains,  relieved  by  lanes  of  feathered  bamboos,  by 
clumps  of  nodding  palms,  by  limpid  streams.  But 
we  were  off,  nevertheless,  the  Governor  -  General 
on  a  cow-pony,  nearly  all  the  rest  on  Arabs  and 
thoroughbreds,  Van  Schaick  and  I  riding  mountain 
ponies.  We  had  fifteen  miles  to  go  to  reach  our 
first  resting-place. 

Crossing  a  stream,  we  began  to  climb  at  once, 
and  as  we  rose  the  plain  of  Central  Luzon  began  to 
unroll  itself  below  us,  with  our  road  of  the  morning 
stretching  out  in  a  straight  white  line  through  the 
green  rice -fields.  Far  to  the  west  we  now  and  then 
caught  glimpses  of  Lingayen  Gulf,  with  the  Zambales 
Mountains  in  full  view  running  south  and  bordering 

*For  a  fuller  account  of  Padre  Villaverde's  labors,  see  the 
Manila  Libertas  of  May  17,  1910.  Villaverde  remained  at  his 
post  until  his  health  broke  completely;  he  set  out  for  Spain,  but 
never  reached  it,  dying  August  4,  1897,  and  being  buried  at  sea 
a  few  hours  only  from  Barcelona.  The  great  trail  he  built  reduced 
the  cost  of  transportation  by  nine-tenths. 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.  33 

the  plain,  while  still  farther  to  the  south  Mount 
Arayat*  rose  abruptly  from  its  surrounding  levels. 
Now  Arayat  is  plainly  visible  from  Manila.  Here 
and  there  solitary  rocky  hills,  looking  for  all  the 
world  like  ant-heaps,  but  in  reality  hundreds  of  feet 
high,  broke  the  uniformity  of  the  plains.  Flooded 
as  the  whole  landscape  was  with  brilliant  sunshine, 
the  view  was  exquisite  in  respect  both  of  form  and 
of  color.  But  as  we  moved  on,  turning  and  twist- 
ing and  ever  rising,  we  were  soon  confined  to  just 
the  few  yards  the  sinuosities  of  the  trail  would  al- 
low us  to  see  at  one  time.  For  a  part  of  the  way 
the  country  was  rocky,  hills  bare  and  fire-swept; 
not  a  tree  or  shrub  suggested  that  we  were  in  the 
tropics.  Soon  pines  began  to  appear,  and  then 
thickened,  till  the  trail  led  through  a  pine  forest, 
pure  and  simple,  the  ground  covered  with  green 
grass,  and  the  whole  fresh  and  moist  from  recent 
rains.  It  was  up  and  down  and  around  and  around. 
Not  a  sign  of  animal  life  did  we  see,  not  a  trace  of 
human  beings. 

*Acoording  to  the  native  legend,  this  mountain  used  to  form 
part  of  the  Zambales  range.  It  became ,  however,  by  reason  of  its 
quarrelsome  disposition,  so  obje^  tionable  to  its  neighbors  of  this 
range,  that  they  finally  resolved  no  longer  to  endure  its  cantanker- 
ousness  and  accordingly  banished  it  to  its  present  position  in  the 
plain  of  Central  Luzon,  where  it  would  have  no  neighbors  to  annoy, 
and  where  it  has  stood  ever  since,  rising  solitary  from  the  surround- 
ing plain. 


34  The  Plead  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

I  was  disgusted,  and  still  more  disconcerted, 
this  afternoon,  to  find  my  pony  going  badly.  He 
was  perfectly  willing  to  walk,  but  at  a  most  digni- 
fied rate,  selected  by  himself.  He  apparently  had 
no  objection  to  catching  up  the  party  every  now 
and  then,  but  only  to  relapse  into  his  funeral  walk, 
after  contact  had  been  re-established.  But  then 
Cootes  took  the  lead  that  afternoon,  and  as  his 
thoroughbred  had  had  two  days'  rest,  and  breasted 
all  the  rises  with  apparent  joyousness,  nobody  was 
able  to  keep  up,  until  Mr.  Worcester  took  the  head 
with  his  black,  a  powerful  but  reasonable  animal. 
However,  everybody  gets  into  camp  sooner  or  later, 
and  so  did  we  all  at  a  resting-point  called  Nozo, 
where  we  all  turned  in  after  supper,  for  reveille  was 
to  be  at  three  o'clock.  This  had  been  a  great  day 
of  contrasts  in  a  descending  scale,  from  motors, 
electric  lights,  and  telephones  in  the  morning  to  our 
solitary  camp  in  the  mountains  at  night,  surrounded 
by  watch-fires  and  guarded  by  Constabulary  sen- 
tinels. This,  by  the  way,  was  the  only  time  we 
were  so  guarded. 


PADRE  JUAN  VILLA  VERDE. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


Early   start. — Pine    forest. — Vegetation. — Rest    at   Amugan. — The 
gansa. — Bone. 

We  set  out  next  morning  at  five-thirty.  Our 
journey  so  far,  that  is,  since  we  mounted,  had  taken 
us  over  a  preliminary  range,  and  now  we  began  a 
more  serious  climb.  The  morning  was  delightfully 
fresh  and  cool,  with  promise  of  a  fine  blazing  sun 
later.  Far  ahead  and  above  us  on  the  skyline,  we 
could  see  a  cut  in  the  forest  where  our  trail  crossed 
the  divide.  But  that  was  miles  away,  and  in  the 
meantime  we  were  ascending  a  lovely  valley,  pines, 
grass,  and  bright  red  soil.  It  was  delicious  that 
morning,  riding  under  the  pines. 

"  Pinea  brachia  cum  trepidant, 
Audio  canticulum  zephyri!" 

And  part  of  the  pleasure  was  due  to  the  fact  that  we 
had  an  unobstructed  view  in  all  directions,  usually 
not  the  case  in  the  tropical  forest.  At  one  point 
we  had  a  full  view  of  Arayat,  at  another  of  Santo 
Tomas,  near  which  we  had  passed  yesterday  on 
coming  down  from  Baguio.  But  fine  as  were  the 

37 


38  The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

distant  views  we  got  from  time  to  time,  the  great 
attraction  was  the  country  itself,  through  which  we 
were  passing.  Barring  the  total  absence  of  any 
sign  of  man,  it  might  have  been  taken  for  Japan, 
in  the  neighborhood  of  Miyanoshita,  without,  how- 
ever, any  trace  of  Japanese  atmosphere. 

The  valley  was  steep-walled,  narrow  and  twist- 
ing, at  one  point  closed  by  a  single  enormous  rock 
nearly  three  hundred  feet  high — in  fact,  a  conical 
hill  rising  right  out  of  the  floor  of  the  valley,  and 
apparently  leaving  just  room  for  the  stream  to  pass 
on  one  side. 

A  curious  fact  was  that  while  the  mountains 
were  decidedly  northern-looking  as  to  flora,  yet  the 
groins,  wherever  possible,  were  thoroughly  tropical. 
For  in  these  water  runs  off  but  slowly,  with  conse- 
quent richness  of  vegetation.  And  yet,  on  the  other 
side  of  the  divide  which  we  were  now  approaching 
not  a  pine  could  be  seen,  but,  on  the  contrary,  the 
typical  tropical  forest  in  full  development.  The 
watershed,  our  skyline,  was  an  almost  absolute  di- 
viding-mark. At  any  rate,  there  the  pines  stopped 
short. 

At  the  divide  we  crossed  from  Pangasinan  into 
Nueva  Vizcaya.  And  with  the  crossing  began  the 
forest  just  mentioned,  and  a  long  descent  for  us. 
Our  immediate  destination  was  Amugan,  our  first 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.  39 

rest  halt.  It  is  of  absolutely  no  use  to  try  to  de- 
scribe this  part  of  the  trip.  If  the  confusion  of 
trees,  vines,  orchids,  tree  ferns,  foliage  plants,  creep- 
ers, was  bewildering,  so  was  the  impression  pro- 
duced. But  we  saw  many  examples  of  the  most 
beautiful  begonia  in  existence,  in  full  blossom,  gor- 
geous spheres  of  dark  scarlet  hanging  above  and 
around  us.  According  to  Mr.  Worcester,  all  at- 
tempts to  transplant  it  have  failed.  Its  blossoms 
would  be  sometimes  twenty  and  thirty  feet  in  the 
air.  Nothing  could  exceed  the  glory  of  these  masses 
of  flowers,  sometimes  a  foot  and  more  in  diameter, 
as  projected  by  the  rays  of  the  early  morning  sun 
against  the  dark  green  background,  the  whole  glis- 
tening and  dripping  in  the  rain-like  dew.  Tree 
ferns  abounded ;  we  passed  one  that  must  have  been 
over  sixty  feet  high.  At  one  halt  the  ground  about 
was  aflame  with  yellow  orchids,  growing  out  of  the 
ground.  And  there  was  one  plant  that  I  recognized 
myself,  unaided,  the  wild  tomato,  a  little  thing  of 
eight  or  nine  inches,  but  holding  up  its  head  with 
all  the  rest  of  them.  As  always,  on  this  trip,  how- 
ever, it  was  the  splendor  of  the  country  that  held 
the  attention,  the  wild  incoherent  mountain  masses 
thrown  together  apparently  without  order  or  system, 
buttressed  peaks,  mighty  flanks  riven  to  the  core 
by  deep  valleys,  radiating  spurs,  re-entrant  gorges, 


40  The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

the  limit  of  vision  filled  by  crenellated  ranges  in  all 
the  serenity  of  their  distant  majesty.  And  then, 
as  our  trail  wound  in  and  out,  different  aspects  of 
the  same  elements  would  present  themselves,  until 
really  the  faculty  of  admiration  became  exhausted. 
And  so  on  down  we  went,  to  be  greeted  as  we  neared 
Amugan  by  a  sound  of  tom-toms;  it  was  a  party 
that  had  come  out  to  welcome  us,  carrying  the  Am- 
erican flag  and  beating  the  gansa  (tom-tom)  by  way 
of  music.  The  gansa,  made  of  bronze,  in  shape  re- 
sembles a  circular  pan  about  twelve  or  thirteen 
inches  in  diameter,  with  a  border  of  about  two 
inches  turned  up  at  right  angles  to  the  face.  On 
the  march  it  is  hung  from  a  string  and  beaten  with 
a  stick.  At  a  halt  it  is  beaten  with  the  open  hand. 
After  crossing  a  coffee  plantation,  we  reached 
a  little  settlement,  where  we  off -saddled  and  took 
a  bite  after  six  hours'  riding.  The  half-dozen  houses 
of  this  tiny  village  are  of  the  usual  Filipino  type, 
and  the  very  few  inhabitants  were  dressed  after  the 
fashion  of  the  Christianized  provinces.  Neverthe- 
less, we  here  first  encountered  the  savage  we  had 
come  up  to  see;  for  not  only  did  they  have  the 
gansa,  but  they  offered  us  a  canao.  This  is  a  feast  of 
which  we  shall  have  splendid  examples  later  on, 
with  dancing,  beating  of  gansas,  drinking  and  so  on, 
and  the  sacrifice  of  a  pig. 


TREE-FERN,  PROVINCE  OF  BOXTOK. 
The  grass  in  front  is  probably  nine  or  ten  feet  high. 


ILONGOT  WOMEN,  PACKING  BAGGAGE  ON  THEIR  BACKS  FOR  AN  EXPLORER. 

Nueva  Vi/cava. 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.  43 

Here  the  affair  was  to  be  much  smaller,  all  the 
elements  being  absent  except  the  pig  and  drums. 
We  had  noticed  as  we  dismounted  a  pig  tied  to  a 
post  and  evidently  in  a  very  uneasy  frame  of  mind, 
and  justly,  for,  although  the  honor  of  a  canao  was 
declined,  on  account  of  the  length  of  the  ceremony 
and  of  the  distance  we  had  yet  to  go,  still  they  were 
resolved  upon  the  death  of  the  pig.  He,  however, 
at  the  same  time  had  made  up  his  mind  to  escape, 
and  by  a  mighty  effort  broke  his  tether,  and  got  off; 
but  in  vain,  for  after  a  short  but  exciting  chase  he 
was  caught  and  then,  an  incision  having  been  made 
in  his  belly,  a  sharpened  stick  was  inserted  and 
stirred  about  until  his  insides  were  thoroughly  mixed, 
when  he  died.  We  left  them  cleaning  and  scraping 
and  dividing,  and  beating  two  drums,  about  four 
feet  long,  eight  inches  in  diameter,  covered  with 
leather  at  one  end.  These  are  beaten  with  the  open 
hand,  the  performer  sitting  on  the  ground  with  the 
instrument  coming  up  over  his  left  thigh,  and  pro- 
duce a  muffled  and  melancholy  note.  Mr.  Forbes 
had  some  notion  of  buying  one  of  them,  but  was 
told  he  would  be  simply  wasting  his  time,  both 
gansas  and  drums  having  an  extraordinary  value 
in  the  eye  of  their  owners. 

We  moved  on,  gradually  descending,  rested  at 
Santa  Fe,  a  rest-house  and  nothing  else,  for  two  or 


44  The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

three  hours,  and  then  turned  north,  following  an  af- 
fluent of  the  Magat  River,  by  an  old  and  poor  trail, 
the  new  one  having  been  washed  out  for  three  hun- 
dred yards  some  two  or  three  miles  ahead.  And 
after  dark  we  made  Bone,  our  resting-place  for 
the  night. 


CHAPTER  V. 


Aritao. —  Bubud. — Dupax. — Start  for  Campote. 

We  all  slept  in  the  school-house,  for  Bone  is  a 
Christianized  village,  and  next  day,  April  28th,  made 
a  late  start,  for  it  was  to  be  a  day  of  easy  stages. 
By  nine  oclock,  passing  through  an  undulating  cham- 
paign country,  we  reached  Aritao,  being  met  at  the 
outskirts  by  gawsa-beaters  and  also  by  the  Christian 
school -children  with  medieval-looking  banners,  and 
all  in  their  best  bibs  and  tuckers;  the  heathen  and 
the  Christians  mingling  apparently  on  the  best  of 
terms.  Aritao  is  an  old  town,  now  much  decayed, 
but  showing  evidences  of  former  affluence.  It  has 
a  brick  church,  the  bells  of  which  were  rung  on  our 
approach. 

As  there  is  some  Government  here,  of  course 
we  had  to  pay  a  visit  of  ceremony,  and  were  ac- 
cordingly received  by  the  presidente  and  other  dig- 
nitaries in  an  upper  chamber,  the  little  children 
with  their  banners  massing  around  the  gate  of  the 
house  and  forming  a  really  pretty  picture.  When 
we  were  all  in,  the  presidente  made  the  Governor- 
General  and  his  suite  a  dignified  speech  of  welcome, 


46  The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

very  well  done,  to  which  Mr.  Forbes  made  answer 
in  fluent  and  pretty  good  Spanish. 

Bubud  was  then  passed  about — but  this  is  go- 
ing too  fast!  Bubud  (called  tapuy  elsewhere)  is  an 
institution  in  the  parts  where  we  now  were,  and  I 
had  been  hearing  of  it  for  days.  It  is  the  native 
(Ifugao)  name  of  a  drink  produced  by  the  fermen- 
tation of  rice,  a  drink  that  varies  in  color  and  in  fla- 
vor, according  to  the  care  taken  in  its  make,  but 
nearly  always  agreeable  to  the  palate  and  refreshing. 
That  offered  us  to-day  was  greenish  yellow,  slightly 
acid  and  somewhat  bitter  from  the  herbs  added.  Un- 
fortunately, it  will  not  bear  transportation,  but  we 
made  up  for  this  by  carrying  off  personally  as  much 
as  was  convenient.  It  had  a  happy  effect  on  my 
pony,  too:  all  the  way  to  Aritao  he  had  been 
slower  than  the  wrath  to  come,  but  from  this  on 
he  showed  life  and  spirit;  in  fact,  he  danced  and 
pranced  through  every  town  we  crossed  for  some 
days  afterward.  I  always  meant  to  ask  if  some 
one  had  given  him  any  bubud  at  Aritao,  during  the 
speech-making;  on  reflection  I  am  inclined  to  doubt 
it,  but  at  any  rate,  in  honor  of  the  circumstances, 
he  was  known  as  Bubud  the  rest  of  the  trip. 

A  short  ride  through  the  charming,  smiling 
country  (part  of  it  might  have  been  France),  over 
a  really  good  road  most  of  the  way,  brought  us  to 


Photograph  by  Cootes. 

NATIVE  POLICEMEN,  IFUGAO,  ON  THE  TRAIL  TO  KIANGAN. 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.  49 

Dupax.  On  the  way  we  were  met  by  some  of  the 
American  officials  of  the  province,  among  them  Mr. 
Norman  Connor,  Superintendent  of  Education  (Yale, 
1900),  and  by  two  Belgian  priests,  DeWit  of  Dupax 
and  Van  del  Maes  of  Bayombong.  The  natives  met 
us,  all  mounted,  with  a  band,  so  that  we  made  a 
triumphant  entrance,  advancing  in  line  to  the  pre- 
sidente's  house,  while  the  church  -  bell  pealed  out 
a  welcome. 

Dupax  must,  like  Aritao,  have  been  a  point  of 
some  importance  in  the  past.  It  has  a  large  brick 
church  with  a  decidedly  Flemish  fagade,  and  a  de- 
tached pagoda-like  belfry.  Its  streets  are  overgrown 
with  fine  soft  grass,  and  its  houses  had  somehow 
or  other  an  air  of  comfort  and  ease.  Here  we  made 
quite  a  stop,  first  of  all  quenching  our  thirst  with 
bubud,  beer,  cocoanut  milk,  anything,  everything, 
for  we  had  ridden  nearly  all  the  way  so  far  in  the 
sun.  We  then  sat  down  to  an  excellent  breakfast, 
and  smoked  and  lounged  about  until  two,  when 
fresh  ponies  were  brought,  and  we  set  off  on  a  side 
trip  to  Campote,  where  we  were  to  have  our  first 
contact  with  the  real  wild  man,  the  Ilongot.* 

*Dr.  Barrows,  in  the  "Census  of  the  Philippine  Islands,"  Vol.  I., 
p.  471,  says  that  the  etymology  of  this  word  is  unknown.  As  it 
seems  to  mean  "people  of  the  mountains,"  it  is  not  unlikely  to  be 
a  form  of  "Igolot,"  by  metathesis,  as  it  were. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


The  Ilongots  and  their  country. — Efforts  of  our  Government  to 
reach  these  people. — The  forest  trail. — Our  first  contact  with 
the  wild  man. 

These  people,  the  Ilongots,  although  very  few 
in  number,  only  six  thousand,  stretch  from  Nueva 
Vizcaya  to  the  Pacific  Coast,  inhabiting  an  immense 
region  of  forested  and  all  but  inaccessible  mountains. 
Over  these  they  roam  without  any  specially  fixed 
habitation.  They  have  the  reputation,  and  appar- 
ently deserve  it,  of  being  cruel  and  treacherous,  as 
they  certainly  are  shy  and  wild.  It  was  these  peo- 
ple who  killed  Doctor  Jones,  of  the  Marshall  Field 
Museum,  after  he  had  been  with  them  eight  or  nine 
months.  So  recently  as  1907  they  made  a  descent 
on  Dupax,  killing  people  and  taking  their  heads. 
When  they  mean  to  kill  a  man  fairly,  according  to 
their  ideas,  they  hand  him  a  fish.  This  is  a  signal 
that  he  must  be  on  his  guard:  to  refuse  the  fish  is 
of  no  use,  because  by  so  doing  one  puts  one's  self 
beyond  the  pale,  and  may  be  killed  in  any  fashion. 
We  heard  a  story  here  of  a  Negrito  stealing  a  pig 
from  two  Ilongots^who'had  a  Negrito  brother-in-law. 
Failing  to  recover  the  pig,  they  decided  that  they 

50 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.  51 

must  have  a  Negrito  head,  and  so  took  their  brother- 
in-law's.  Pig-stealing,  by  the  way,  in  the  mountain 
country  is  regarded  much  as  horse-stealing  used  to 
be  out  West.  Besides  the  spear  and  head  knife, 
the  Ilongots,  like  the  Negritos,  with  whom  they 
have  intermarried  to  a  certain  extent,  use  the  bow 
and  arrow,  and  are  correspondingly  dreaded.  For 
it  seems  to  be  believed  in  Luzon  that  bow-and- 
arrow  savages  are  more  dangerous  than  spear-  and 
ax-men;  that  the  use  of  this  projectile  weapon,  the 
arrow,  induces  craftiness,  hard  to  contend  against. 
An  Ilongot  can  silently  shoot  you  in  the  back,  after 
you  have  passed.  A  spear-man  has  to  get  closer, 
and  can  not  use  an  ambush  so  readily.* 

Now  our  Government  in  the  Philippines,  by 
and  through  and  because  of  Mr.  Worcester,  had 
made  repeated  efforts  to  reach  these  Ilongots,  to 
bring  them  in,  as  it  were,  and  9nly  recently  had 
these  efforts  met  with  any  success.  For  one  thing, 
it  is  a  very  serious  matter  to  seek  them  out  in  the 
depths  of  their  fastnesses  if  only  because  of  the 
difficulty  of  reaching  them;  many  of  them  even 


*According  to  some  accounts,  the  Highlanders,  in  throwing  the 
spear,  give  it  a  rotation  around  its  longest  axis,  twirling  it  rapidly 
in  the  hand  as  this  is  brought  up  before  the  throw.  In  other  words, 
they  have  discovered  that  a  rotating  spear  has  greater  accuracy 
than  a  non-rotating  one.  If  this  is  true,  this  discovery  is  worthy 
to  be  bracketed  with  the  use  of  the  fire-syringe  by  the  Tinguians 
of  the  North,  and  by  certain  other  wild  people  of  the  Archipelago. 


52  The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

now  have  never  seen  a  white  man,  and  would  escape, 
if  I  recollect  aright,  on  the  aproach  of  our  people. 
But  in  1908  some  fifty  of  them  did  "come  in,"  and, 
gaining  confidence,  this  number  grew  to  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  in  1909.  They,  or  some  of  them  at 
least,  now  sent  an  invitation  to  Mr.  Worcester  to 
come  and  see  them,  and  he  accepted  on  condition 
of  their  making  a  trail,  saying  that  they  could  not 
expect  a  man  of  his  stature  to  creep  through  their 
country  on  his  hands  and  knees.  This  trail  they 
had  built,  and  they  had  assembled  at  Campote, 
four  hours  from  Dupax,  for  this  first  formal  visit. 
It  was  the  desire  of  Mr.  Worcester  that  this  visit 
should  be  happy  in  all  respects;  for,  if  not,  the 
difficulties  of  intercourse  with  this  people,  already 
grea.t,  would  be  so  seriously  increased  as  to  delay 
the  civilizing  intentions  of  the  Government  for  many 
years  to  come. 

We  rode  off  at  about  two  o'clock,  passing  under 
numberless  bamboo  arches,  on  an  astonishingly  good 
road,  built  by  Padre  Juan  Villaverde.  About  two 
miles  out  we  left  the  road,  turning  off  east  across 
rice-paddies,  and  then  followed  a  stream,  which  we 
crossed  near  the  foot  of  a  large  bare  mountain  facing 
south.  Up  this  we  zigzagged  four  miles,  a  tiresome 
stretch  with  the  sun  shining  full  upon  us.  But  at 
the  top  we  had  our  reward:  to  the  south  reached 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.  53 

a  beautiful  open  valley,  its  floor  a  mass  of  green 
undulations,  its  walls  purple  mountains  blazing  in 
the  full  glory  of  the  afternoon  sun.  At  the  extreme 
south,  miles  away,  we  could  make  out  Las  Salinas, 
Salt  Springs,*  whose  deposits  sparkled  and  shone  and 
scintillated  and  danced  in  the  heated  air.  Grateful 
as  it  would  have  been  to  rest  at  the  top  and  enjoy 
the  scene,  we  nevertheless  had  to  turn  our  backs 
upon  it,  for  we  had  yet  far  to  go  over  an  unknown 
trail,  and  it  was  most  desirable  to  get  in  before 
dark.  So  we  turned  and  now  plunged  into  a  forest 
of  tall  trees  so  thick  overhead  and  so  deeply  buried 
in  vines,  and  creepers  and  underbrush  generally, 
that  just  as  no  light  got  in  from  above,  so  one  could 
not  see  ten  yards  in  any  direction  off  the  trail. 
This  effect  was  no  doubt  partly  due  to  the  shades 
of  evening,  and  to  our  being  on  the  eastern  slope 
of  the  mountain.  And  that  trail!  The  Ilongots, 
poor  chaps,  had  done  their  best  with  it,  and  the 
labor  of  construction  must  have  been  fearful.t  But 
the  footing  was  nothing  but  volcanic  mud,  laterite, 
all  the  worse  from  a  recent  rain.  Our  ponies  sank 
over  their  fetlocks  at  every  step,  and  required  con- 

*These  salt  deposits  are  now  (1912),  to  the  great  satisfaction 
of  the  people  of  the  province,  being  worked  by  the  Government,  and 
salt  has  ceased  to  be  a  luxury  withia  the  reach  of  only  the  few  rich. 

fThe  Ilongots  are  so  few  in  number  and  scattered  over  so  vast 
and  rough  a  country  that  trail-making  can  never  be  as  successful 
in  their  territory  as  it  has  been  farther  north. 


54  The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

slant  urging  to  move  at  all.  Compared  to  the  one  I 
was  riding,  Bubud  was  a  race-horse !  Cootes,  Strong, 
and  I  kept  together,  the  others  having  ridden  on.  As 
the  day  grew  darker  and  darker,  the  myriad  notes 
of  countless  insects  melted  into  one  mighty,  con- 
tinuous shrill  note  high  overhead,  before  us,  behind 
us,  in  which  not  one  break  or  intermission  could 
be  detected.  Anything  faster  than  a  walk  would 
now  have  been  unsafe,  even  if  it  had  been  possible, 
for  at  times  the  ground  sloped  off  sharply  down 
the  mountain,  the  footing  grew  more  and  more  un- 
certain, and  part  of  the  time  we  could  not  see  the 
trail  at  all.  Indeed,  Cootes's  pony  stepped  in  a 
hole  and  fell,  pitching  Cootes  clean  over  his  head, 
and  sending  his  helmet  down  the  mountain-side, 
where  Cootes  had  to  go  and  get  it.  Soon  after  this, 
though,  the  forest  thinned  perceptibly,  the  trail  grew 
better,  and  we  met  Connor,  who  had  turned  back  to 
see  how  we  were  getting  on,  and  who  informed  us 
we  had  only  one-half  hour  more  before  us.  Going 
on,  we  were  greeted  by  a  shout  of  welcome  from 
our  first  Ilongot,  standing  in  the  trail,  subligate,  or 
gee-stringed,  otherwise  stark  naked,  and  armed  with 
a  spear,  the  sentinel  of  a  sort  of  outpost,  equally 
naked,  with  which  we  soon  came  up.  They  were 
all  armed,  too,  spears  and  shields,  and  all  insisted 
on  shaking  hands  with  every  one  of  us.  You  must 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.  55 

shake  hands  when  they  offer  to,  an  unpleasant  mat- 
ter sometimes,  when  you  notice  that  the  man  who 
is  paying  you  this  attention  is  covered  with  t&nia 
imbricata,  or  other  rare  tropical  skin  disease.*  No- 
blesse oblige,  here  as  elsewhere;  besides,  a  considera- 
tion for  your  own  skin  may  require  you  to  put  aside 
your  prejudices.  The  trail  now  turned  down  over 
a  broad,  cleared  hog-back,  at  the  flattened  end  of 
which  we  could  see  two  shacks  and  a  temporary 
shed  for  our  mounts.  Smoke  was  rising  cheerfully 
in  the  air  and  people  were  moving  about.  This 
was  Campote. 

*Dampier's  description  of  what  he  saw  in  Mindanao  fits  here: 
"This  Distemper  runs  with  a  dry  Scurf  all  over  their  Bodies, 
and  causeth  great  itching  in  those  that  have  it,  making  them 
frequently  scratch  and  scrub  themselves,  which  raiseth  the  outer 
skin  in  small  whitish  flakes,  like  the  scales  of  little  Fish,  when  they 
are  raised  on  end  with  a  Knife.  This  makes  their  skin  extraordi- 
nary rough,  and  in  some  you  shall  see  broad  white  spots  in  sev- 
eral parts. of  their  Body.  I  judge  such  have  had  it,  but  are  cured; 
for  their  skins  were  smooth,  and  I  did  not  perceive  them  to  scrub 
themselves:  yet  I  have  learnt  from  their  own  mouths  that  these 
spots  were  from  this  Distemper." — Dampier's  "Voyages,"  Mase- 
field's  edition,  p.  341 ;  New  York,  E.  P.  Dutton  &  Co.,  1906. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


School   at   Campote. — Our   white    pony,    and   the   offer   made   for 
his  tail. 

It  was  too  dark  by  this  time  to  see  or  do  much. 
We  had  supper,  looked  up  the  place  where  we  were 
to  sleep,  and  then  collected  at  the  lower  of  the  two 
shacks.  Here  we  received  visits,  so  to  say,  from 
as  many  Ilongots,  grown  men  only,  as  could  get 
into  the  place.  In  truth,  we  were  as  much  objects 
of  curiosity  to  them  as  they  possibly  could  have 
been  to  us.  To  Mr.  Worcester  the  occasion  was 
one  of  business,  explaining  through  interpreters  why 
we  had  come,  what  the  Government  wanted,  getting 
acquainted  with  the  cabecillas  (head  men),  and  lis- 
tening to  what  they  had  themselves  to  say.  One 
of  our  visitors  was  a  grandfather,  remarkable,  first, 
because  of  his  heavy  long  beard,  and,  second,  be- 
cause his  own  grandfather  was  alive;  five  genera- 
tions of  one  family  in  existence  at  the  same  time. 

Campote,  I  may  as  well  say  it  here  as  anywhere 
else,  is  merely  a  point  where  Connor  has  established 
a  school  for  children,  under  a  Christianized  Filipino 
teacher.  Some  thirty  children  in  all  are  under  in- 
struction, the  average  attendance  being  twenty-four. 

56 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.  59 

It  is  almost  impossible,  so  Connor  told  us,  to  make 
these  people  understand  why  children  should  go  to 
school,  or  what  a  school  is,  or  is  for,  anyway.  How- 
ever, a  beginning  has  been  made.  They  all  have 
a  dose  of  "the  three  Rs"  ;  the  boys  are  taught,  besides, 
carpentry,  gardening,  and  rope-making,  and  the  girls 
sewing,  weaving,  and  thread-making  from  cotton 
grown  by  the  boys  on  the  spot.  They  ought  to  show 
some  skill  in  all  these  arts ;  for  the  native  rice-basket 
is  a  handsome,  strong  affair,  square  of  cross-section, 
with  sides  flaring  out,  and  about  three  feet  high, 
and  some  of  their  weapons  show  great  manual  skill. 
The  garden  was  on  show  the  next  morning,  display- 
ing beans,  tomatoes,  cotton,  perhaps  other  things 
that  I  failed  to  recognize  or  have  forgotten,  any- 
way, a  sufficient  garden.  There  is  besides  an  ex- 
change here  for  the  sale  of  native  wares. 

One  of  our  party  had  ridden  a  white  pony,  and 
was  much  amused,  as  were  all  of  us,  to  receive  an 
offer  for  his  tail !  There  is  nothing  else  the  Ilongots 
hold  in  higher  estimation  than  white  horse-hair,  and 
here  was  a  pony  with  a  tail  full  of  it !  But  the  offer 
was  refused;  the  idea  of  cutting  off  the  tail  was 
not  to  be  entertained  for  one  moment.  Certainly, 
he  might  keep  its  tail :  what  they  wanted  was  the 
hair.  Would  he  sell  the  hair?  No;  that  was  only 
a  little  less  bad  than  to  sell  the  tail  itself. 


60  The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

On  our  way  back  to  the  shack  in  which  some 
of  us  were  to  sleep  (the  school-house  it  was)  we  no- 
ticed an  admiring  crowd  standing  around  the  pony, 
tethered  under  the  house,  and  all  unconscious  of  the 
admiration  he  was  exciting,  most  rudely  presenting 
his  hind-quarters  to  his  admirers.  But  that  was 
not  his  intention;  the  crowd — half  women,  by  the 
way — wanted  to  be  as  close  to  the  tail  as  possible. 
We  left  them  gesticulating  and  pointing  and  com- 
menting, much  as  our  own  women  might  while 
looking  at  crown  jewels,  but  not  so  hopelessly;  for 
the  next  morning,  when  we  next  saw  the  pony, 
nearly  all  the  hair  had  been  pulled  out  of  his  tail, 
except  a  few  patches  or  tufts  here  or  there,  tougher 
than  the  rest,  and  serving  now  merely  to  show  what 
the  original  dimensions  must  have  been. 

While  we  were  undressing  in  came  a  little  maiden, 
who  marched  up  to  every  one  of  us,  shook  hands, 
and  said,  "Good  evening,  sir."  We  were  pretty 
well  undressed,  but  our  lack  of  clothes  looked  per- 
fectly natural  to  her,  perhaps  inspired  her  with  con- 
fidence. She  said  her  name  was  Banda,  that  she 
was  thirteen,  but  of  this  she  could  not  know,  as  all 
these  children  had  had  ages  assigned  to  them  when 
they  entered  the  school;  after  greeting  us  all,  and 
airing  her  slight  stock  of  English,  she  withdrew  as 
properly  as  she  had  entered.  A  trifling  incident, 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.  61 

perhaps  not  worth  recording,  but  in  reality  sig- 
nificant, for  it  marked  confidence,  especially  as  she 
had  come  in  of  her  own  accord.  We  all  agreed  that 
she  was  very  pretty. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


Appearance  of  the  Ilongots. — Dress. — Issue  of  beads  and  cloth.— 
Warrior  dance. — School  work. — Absence  of  old  women  from 
meeting. 

The  next  morning  we  turned  out  early,  and  got 
our  first  real  "look-see."  Campote  is  completely 
surrounded  by  mountains,  the  hogback  dropping  off 
into  the  valley  below  us.  About  four  or  five  hundred 
people  had  assembled,  men,  women,  and  children. 
As  a  rule,  they  were  small  and  well  built,  but  not 
so  well  built  as  the  tribes  farther  north.  The  men 
were  fully  armed  with  spears,  bows  and  arrows, 
shields,  and  head-knives;  gee-strings  apart,  they 
were  naked.  Some  of  them  wore  on  the  head  the 
scarlet  beak  of  the  hornbill;  these  had  taken  heads. 
Quite  a  number,  both  men  and  women,  had  a  small 
cross-like  pattern  tattooed  on  the  forehead;  the  sig- 
nificance of  this  I  did  not  learn.  The  shield  is  in 
one  piece,  in  longitudinal  cross-section  like  a  very 
wide  flat  V  open  toward  the  bearer,  the  top  termi- 
nating in  a  piece  rising  between  two  scoops,  one  on 
each  side  of  the  median  line.  The  women  had  on 
short  skirts  and  little  jackets  (like  what,  I  am 
told,  we  call  bolero  jackets),  the  bosom  being  bare. 

62 


IFUGAO  COUPLE  WITH  ALL  THE  ADORNMENTS  OF  A  WEDDING  CEREMONY. 

The  necklace  of  the  woman  is  valued  at  500  pesos;    its  intrinsic 

value  is  not  over  10  pesos. 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.  65 

Around  the  waist  they  wore  bands  of  brass  wire  or 
of  bamboo  stained  red  and  wound  around  with  fine 
brass  wire.  These  bamboo  bands  were  pretty  and 
artistic.  You  saw  the  children  as  they  happened 
to  be;  the  only  thing  to  note  about  them  being 
that  they  were  quite  bright-looking.  What  the  men 
lacked  in  clothes  they  made  up  in  their  hair,  for 
they  wore  it  long  and  some  of  them  had  it  done  up 
in  the  most  absolute  Psyche  knots.  Such  earrings 
as  we  saw  were  worn  in  the  upper  cartilage  of  the 
ear.  It  may  be  remarked,  too,  that  the  women 
had  a  contented  and  satisfied  air,  as  though  sure 
of  their  power  and  position ;  we  found  this  to  be  the 
case  generally  throughout  the  Mountain  Country. 
The  purpose  of  the  visit  being  to  cultivate 
pleasant  relations  with  and  receive  the  confidence 
of  these  shy  people,  the  real  business  of  the  day  was 
soon  opened.  Mr.  Worcester  took  his  place  in  the 
shade  of  his  shack,  and  proceeded  to  the  distribu- 
tion of  red  calico,  beads,  combs,  mirrors,  and  other 
small  stuff,  the  people  coming  up  by  rancherias  (set- 
tlements or  villages) ;  none  of  the  highlanders  seem 
to  have  any  conception  of  tribal  organization,  a  con- 
dition no  doubt  due  to  the  absence  of  communica- 
tions. A  cabecilla,  or  head  man,  would  receive 
two  meters,  his  wife  one,  and  others  smaller  meas- 
ures. This  sort  of  thing  was  carefully  studied  out, 


66  The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

so  far  as  rank  was  concerned,  for  it  would  never  do 
to  give  a  common  person  even  approximately  as 
much  as  a  cabecilla.  One  rancheria  would  take  all 
red  beads,  another  white,  another  blue,  and  so  on. 
Not  once  did  I  see  a  trace  of  greediness  or  even 
eagerness,  though  interest  was  marked.  The  whole 
thing  was  conducted  in  the  most  orderly  fashion, 
the  various  rancherias  awaiting  their  turn  with  ex- 
einplary  patience.* 

The  issue  over,  dancing  began.  In  this  only 
men  and  boys  took  part,  to  the  music  of  small  rude 
fiddles,  tuned  in  fifths, f  played  by  the  men,  and  of 
a  queer  instrument  consisting  of  two  or  three  joints 
of  bamboo  with  strings  stretched  over  bridges,  beaten 
with  little  sticks  by  the  women.  The  fiddles  must 
be  of  European  origin.  The  orchestra,  seven  or 
eight  all  told,  sat  in  the  shade,  surrounded  by  an 
admiring  crowd.  Among  them  was  a  damsel  hold- 
ing a  civilized  umbrella  over  her  head,  whereof  the 
stick  and  the  rib-points  were  coquettishly  decorated 
with  white  horse-hair  tied  in  little  brushes,  doubt- 
less furnished  by  our  white  pony. 

The  dancing  at  once  fixed  our  attention.     Two 

*On  one  of  his  first  expeditions  elsewhere,  however,  when 
the  women  realized  that  they  were  really  to  receive  gifts  of  beads, 
etc.,  they  rushed  Mr.  Worcester  and  his  assistants,  upsetting  them 
all  in  their  eagerness  to  get  at  the  stuff. 

fSo  Strong  said,  himself  an  accomplished  violinist. 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.  67 

or  three  men,  though  usually  only  two,  took  posi- 
tion on  the  little  terreplein  below  the  shack,  and 
began  a  slow  movement,  taking  very  short,  formal, 
staccato  steps  in  a  circle  against  the  sun.  Keeping 
back  to  back  and  side  to  side,  they  maintained  the 
whole  body  in  a  tense,  rigid  posture  with  the  chest 
out,  head  up  and  thrown  back,  abdomen  drawn  in, 
right  hand  straight  out,  the  left  also,  holding  a 
shield,  eyes  glazed  and  fixed,  knees  bent  forward. 
Between  the  steps,  the  dancers  would  stand  in  this 
strained,  tense  position,  then  move  forward  a  few 
inches,  and  so  on  around  the  circle.  After  a  little 
of  this  business,  for  that  is  just  what  it  was,  the 
next  part  came  on,  a  simulation  of  fighting:  and, 
as  everything  before  was  as  stiff,  strained,  and  rigid 
as  it  was  possible  to  be,  so  now  everything  was 
light,  graceful,  agile,  and  quick;  leaps  forward  and 
back,  leaps  sideways,  the  two  combatants  maneu- 
vering, as  it  were,  one  around  the  other,  for  posi- 
tion. It  was  hard  to  realize  that  human  motions 
could  be  so  graceful,  light  and  easy.  Then  head- 
knives  were  drawn,  and  cuts  right,  and  cuts  left, 
cuts  at  every  part  of  the  body  from  the  head  to 
the  ankles,  were  added  to  the  motion;  the  man  on 
the  defensive  for  the  moment  making  suitable  parries 
with  his  shield. 


68  The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

The  dance  completed,  the  dancers  would  ad- 
vance and  face  Mr.  Worcester,  put  their  heels  to- 
gether in  true  military  fashion,  hold  their  arms  out 
right  and  left,  and  make  a  slight  inclination  of  the 
head,  a  sort  of  salute,  in  fact,  to  the  one  they  re- 
garded as  the  principal  personage  of  the  party. 

We  saw  much  dancing  later  on  in  our  trip,  but 
none  that  equalled  this  in  intensity  and  character, 
apart  from  its  being  of  a^  totally  different  kind. 
Heiser  managed,  with  some  difficulty,  to  take  a 
photograph  of  the  tense  phase  of  one  of  the  dances; 
it  gives  a  better  idea  of  the  phase  than  my  imperfect 
description. 

The  dancing  was  followed  by  archery,  the  tar- 
get being  a  small  banana  stem  at  some  thirty  paces. 
This  calls  for  no  especial  comment,  except  that 
many  hits  were  made,  and  many  of  the  misses 
would  have  hit  a  man.  More  interesting  was  an 
ambush  they  laid  for  us,  to  show  how  they  attacked. 
While  collecting  for  it,  to  our  astonishment  the  en- 
tire party  suddenly  ran  in  all  directions  at  top 
speed  and  hid  behind  whatever  offered.  On  their 
return,  in  four  or  five  minutes,  they  explained  that 
a  spirit  had  suddenly  appeared  among  them,  and 
that  they  had  had  to  run.  On  our  asking  how 
they  knew  a  spirit  had  turned  up,  they  asked  if 
we  had  not  noticed  leaves  and  grass  flying  in  a 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.  71 

spiral.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  some  of  us  had,  a  very 
small  and  very  gentle  whirlwind  having  formed  for 
a  second  or  two.  They  had  seen  it,  too,  and  that 
was  the  spirit. 

It  was  now  mid-day;  we  had  tiffin,  and  began 
preparations  for  our  departure.  The  various  arms, 
shields,  and  other  things  we  had  bought  were  col- 
lected to  be  cargadoed  back  to  Pangasinan.  Among 
them,  alas!  were  not  two  beautiful  head-knives, 
which  their  wearers  had  absolutely  declined  to  part 
with  on  any  terms  whatever.  They  resisted  the 
Governor-General  even.  I  give  a  photograph  here 
of  a  knife  and  scabbard  that  Connor  sent  me  on 
later.  It  is  a  handsome  one,  but  not  as  handsome 
as  those  two  jewels! 

Our  last  performance  was  to  look  at  the  garden 
and  to  see  the  school  at  work,  making  thread  and 
rope,  weaving  mats,  and  so  on.  I  take  it  that  this 
school  was  really  the  significant  thing  at  Campote, 
apart  from  the  significance  of  the  occasion  itself. 
We  spent  but  little  time  over  it,  however,  our  in- 
terest in  the  arts  of  war  having  left  us  only  a  few 
minutes  for  those  of  peace.  Nevertheless,  here  is 
a  beginning  that  will  bear  fruit,  and  in  the  mean- 
time Connor  rides  alone  and  in  safety  among  these 
wild  people,  which  proves  a  good  many  things, 
when  you  select  the  right  man  to  do  your  hard  work. 


72  The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

Mr.  Worcester,  as  we  rode  off,  expressed  the 
liveliest  satisfaction  with  the  meeting.  These  peo- 
ple, returning  to  their  rancher  ias,  he  said,  would 
talk  for  a  year  of  their  treatment  at  the  hands  of 
the  Americans,  of  the  gift  of  palay  (rice)  to  four 
hundred  people,  for  two  days,  to  say  nothing  of 
two  vacas  (cows)  and  of  other  gifts.  Next  year,  he 
hoped,  half  of  them  would  come  in;  besides,  the 
start  made  was  good;  the  presence  of  so  many 
women  and  children  was  a  good  sign,  and  equally 
good  was  the  total  absence  of  old  women.  For 
these  are  a  source  of  trouble  and  mischief  with 
their  complaints  of  the  degeneracy  of  the  times. 
They  address  themselves  particularly  to  the  young 
men,  accusing  them  of  a  lack  of  courage  and  of 
other  parts,  taunting  them  with  the  fact  that  the 
young  women  will  have  none  of  them,  that  in  their 
day  their  young  men  brought  in  heads,  etc.  Thus  it 
has  happened,  especially  when  any  native  drink 
was  going  about,  that  trouble  has  followed.  It  is 
the  practice,  therefore,  of  our  Government  when 
arranging  these  meetings  to  suggest  that  the  old 
women  be  left  at  home,  and  if  so  left,  it  is  a  good 
indication. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


Return  to  civilization. — Reception  at  Bambang. — Aglipayanos  and 
Protestants. 

The  return  to  the  main  road  from  Campote 
was  a  great  improvement  over  the  advance.  The 
sun  had  partly  dried  the  trail,  and  his  vertical  rays 
enabled  us  to  see  about  us  a  little,  and  realize  what 
a  tremendous  phenomenon  tropical  vegetation  can 
be.  Some  Philippine  trees,  for  example,  the  nar- 
ra,  throw  out  buttresses.  One  we  saw  on  this  trail 
must  have  measured  twenty  feet  across  on  the 
ground,  from  vertex  to  vertex  of  diametrically  op- 
posite buttresses,  the  bole  itself  not  being  over  two 
and  one-half  feet  in  diameter,  and  the  buttresses 
starting  about  fifteen  feet  above  the  ground.  But 
the  greatest  difference  to  me  personally  was  in  my 
mount,  Connor  having  lent  me  his  pony,  as  ad- 
mirable as  mine  of  the  day  before  had  been  wretched. 
In  spite  of  the  fact  that  Connor  had  to  stay  behind 
at  Campote  and  could  catch  us  up  later,  this  at- 
tention on  his  part  was  one  of  the  most  generous 
things  that  ever  happened  to  me,  for  certainly  the 
pony  he  got  from  me  was  the  most  irritating  piece 
of  horseflesh  imaginable.  I  am  glad  publicly  to 

73 


74  The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

give  him  my  warmest  thanks  again !  Mr.  Worcester 
was  well  mounted,  too;  he  rode  this  day  at  two 
hundred  and  thirty-five  pounds,  and  his  kit  must 
have  weighed  some  thirty  more,  yet  his  little  beast 
carried  him  soundly  to  Bambang,  our  destination, 
about  seventeen  miles,  twelve  of  them  at  a  "square, 
unequivocal"  trot,  by  no  means  an  unusual  example 
of  the  strength  and  endurance  of  some  of  these  native 
ponies.  In  what  seemed  a  very  short  time  (but 
the  trail  was  comparatively  dry)  we  broke  out  of 
the  forest,  and  again  had  our  lovely  valley  below 
and  in  front  of  us.  At  the  top  we  saw  some  giant 
fly-catchers,  a  bird  of  so  powerful  and  erratic  a 
flight  that  no  one  has  so  far,  according  to  Mr. 
Worcester,  succeeded  in  killing  one  of  them.  It 
may  be  mentioned  here  that  we  saw  very  few  birds 
or  any  other  animals  on  our  journey.  Shortly  after 
beginning  the  descent,  some  of  the  party,  impatient 
of  the  zig-zags,  decided  to  go  straight  down,  the 
temptation  being  a  cool  green  stream  at  the  foot 
of  the  mountain;  half  an  hour  afterward,  on  turn- 
ing a  point,  we  could  see  them  disporting  them- 
selves in  the  waters,  and  at  that  distance  looking 
very  much  like  Diana  and  her  nymphs  in  the  usual 
pictures. 

Back  in  the  main  road,  we  stopped  to  rest  at 
a  point  covered  with  a  sensitive  plant  so  delicate 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.  75 

that,  on  stepping  on  it  anywhere,  the  nervous 
thrill,  if  that  is  what  it  is,  would  run  three  or  four 
feet  or  more  in  all  directions  before  dying  down. 
From  this  point  we  turned  north,  our  way  taking 
us  through  a  broad  open  valley,  past  rice-fields 
and  between  clumps  of  flowering  guava  bushes. 
As  we  neared  Bambang,  where  we  were  to  spend 
the  night,  we  were  as  before  met  by  the  local 
notabilities  on  horseback;  and  breasting  a  rise, 
we  saw  our  road  down  in  the  plain  in  which 
this  town  lies,  lined  on  both  sides  by  all  the 
school-children  of  the  place,  dressed  in  their  very 
best  clothes,  some  of  them  American  fashion  with 
shoes  and  stockings  and  looking  mighty  uncomfort- 
able in  consequence.  Nearly  everyone  had  a  flag. 
Riding  into  the  town,  we  found  the  plaza  crowded 
with  men  and  women,  dressed  mostly  in  white,  and 
what  with  the  flags,  the  church-bells  clanging  with 
all  their  might,  the  crowd,  and  the  children  trooping 
in,  our  cavalcade  made  a  triumphant  entrance. 

We  dismounted  at  the  presidente's,  where  mus- 
catel and  cocoanut  milk  were  given  us.  A  little 
muscatel  goes  a  long  way,  but  this  is  not  true  of 
the  milk  when  one's  tongue  is  hanging  out  from 
riding  in  the  sun,  and  there  are  only  two  or  three 
cocoanuts.  Filipinos  apparently  are  not  fond  of 


76  The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

this  drink,  and  we  nearly  always  had  to  send  out 
and  get  more.  No  sooner  were  we  in  the  house 
than  addresses  began,  one  of  these  being  in  Ilokano. 
The  native  language  of  Bambang,  however,  is  the 
Isanay,  spoken  elsewhere  only  at  Aritao  and  Dupax, 
a  dying  tongue,  doomed  to  early  extinction. 

Bambang,  like  nearly  all  the  other  Nueva  Viz- 
caya  towns  we  had  seen  or  were  to  see,  shows  signs 
of  decadence.  It  has  a  good  church  and  convento, 
a  great  plaza,  and  is  surrounded  by  a  fertile  country, 
but  something  is  missing.  After  dinner,  I  went  over 
and  called  on  the  padre,  one  of  the  Belgians,  whom 
we  had  met  the  day  before.  He  informed  me  that 
Bambang  had  many  Protestants,  which  he  explained 
by  the  sharp  rivalry  between  the  Aglipayanos,  or 
members  of  the  "native"  church,  headed  by  the 
secessionist  Aglipay,  and  the  Catholics.  .  To  avoid 
the  issues  raised  by  this  rivalry,  many  natives  would 
appear  to  have  abandoned  the  errors  of  Rome  (or 
of  Aglipayanismo,  as  the  case  may  be)  for  those  of 
the  Reformation. 

When  I  got  back  to  the  presidentes,  everybody 
had  turned  in,  and  the  house  was  dark.  However, 
I  found  a  bed  not  occupied  by  anyone  else,  but  of 
my  bedding  there  was  not  a  sign.  So  I  stretched 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.  77 

out  on  the  petate*  of  my  bed,  only  to  wake  up  later 
shivering  with  cold,  which  I  tried  to  remedy  by 
fishing  around  for  cover  in  a  pile  of  straw  mats, 
from  which  I  extracted  what  turned  out  in  the 
morning  to  be  a  jusi  table-cloth,  through  which  you 
could  have  shot  straws.  It  is  altogether  a  mistake 
to  imagine  that  one  can  not  be  cold  in  the  tropics. 

*The  straw  mat  covering  the  "split  bottom"  of  the  native 
bed.  There  is  no  other  mattress,  and  the  "split  bottom"  consti- 
tutes the  springs.  Once  accustomed  to  it,  the  bed  is  cool  and 
comfortable. 


CHAPTER  X. 


Magat  River. — Enthusiastic  reception  at  Bayombong. — -Speeches 
and  reports. — Solano. — Ifugao  "college  yell." — Bagabag. 

The  next  day,  April  20,  we  rode  out  at  six,  a 
splendid  morning;  Bubud  felt  the  inspiration,  too, 
for  he  got  on  capitally.  We  soon  reached  the  Magat 
River  on  the  other  side  of  which  was  Bayombong, 
the  capital  of  the  province  and  our  first  halt  of 
the  day. 

The  Magat  is  another  of  those  turbulent,  un- 
certain rivers  of  the  Archipelago;  we  were  not  sure 
as  we  neared  it  whether  we  could  get  over  or  not. 
When  up,  it  carries  waves  in  midstream  six  to  seven 
feet  from  crest  to  trough.  But  we  had  no  such  ill- 
luck,  and  bancas  soon  came  over  for  us,  the  horses 
swimming.  While  waiting  for  them  we  had  a  chance 
to  admire  the  beautiful  country;  on  one  side  tall 
spreading  trees  and  broad  savannahs,  on  the  other 
the  mountain  presenting  a  bare  scarp  of  red  rock 
many  hundreds  of  feet  high;  immediately  in  front 
the  cool,  green  river,  over  all  the  brilliant  sun,  not 
yet  too  hot  to  prevent  our  thinking  of  other  things. 

Once  over,  we  had  no  occasion  to  complain  of 
our  reception!  All  the  notabilities  were  present,  of 

78 


IFUGAO  WARRIOR  STANDING  NEAR  His  HOUSE. 

Showing  three  heads  which  be  has  taken  from  his  enemies  at  Kiangan.      The  wattled 
79         wall  is  suali.     Human  skulls  are  no  longer  displayed  in  the  Ifugao  country. 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.  81 

course,  mounted,  but  in  addition  there  were  three 
bands,  all  playing  different  tunes  at  the  same  time, 
in  different  keys,  and  all  fortissimo.  No  instrument 
was  allowed  to  rest,  the  drums  being  especially  vig- 
orous. One  of  the  bands  was  that  of  the  Constabu- 
lary, playing  really  well,  and  with  magnificent  in- 
difference to  the  other  two.  I  am  bound  to  say 
they  returned  it.  We  had  the  Constabulary  troops, 
too,  as  escort,  a  well  set-up,  well-turned-out  and 
soldierlike  body.  What  with  the  bands,  the  pigs, 
the  dogs,  the  horses,  the  children,  the  people,  it  was 
altogether  one  of  the  most  delightful  confusions  con- 
ceivable, not  the  least  interesting  feature  being  the 
happy  unconsciousness  of  the  people  of  the  incon- 
gruity of  the  reception.  However,  we  formed  a 
column,  the  Constabulary  at  the  head,  with  its 
band,  and  were  played  into  Bayombong,  with  the 
other  bands,  children,  dogs,  etc.,  as  a  mighty  rear 
guard. 

Our  first  business  was  to  listen  to  reports  and 
addresses.  So  we  all  went  upstairs  in  the  Govern- 
ment House,  the  presidencia;  the  Governor-General, 
Mr.  Worcester,  and  the  presidente  took  their  seats 
on  a  dais,  while  the  rest  of  us,  with  the  local  Amer- 
icans and  some  of  the  native  inhabitants,  formed 
the  audience,  and  listened  to  a  report  read  by  the 
treasurer.  This  made  a  great  impression  on  us,  so 


82  The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

sensible  and  businesslike  was  it;  not  content  with 
a  statement,  it  went  on  to  describe  the  affairs  of 
the  province,  the  possibilities  of  agriculture,  and 
what  could  be  accomplished  if  the  people  would 
turn  to  and  work,  and  in  particular  it  made  no 
complaints.  Apparently  this  report  alarmed  the 
presidente,  for  he  left  his  seat  on  the  platform  as 
soon  as  he  decently  could,  and  delivered  a  speech 
intended  to  traverse  the  treasurer's  report.  His 
concern  was  almost  comic:  the  idea  of  saying  to 
the  Governor-General  that  a  great  deal  could  be 
done  locally  by  work,  when  there  was  a  central 
Government  at  Manila !  Mr.  Forbes,  as  usual,  made 
in  his  turn  a  very  sound  speech,  based  on  his  ob- 
servation in  the  province,  on  its  fertility,  its  possi- 
bilities^ he  necessity  of  improving  communications 
and  of  diversifying  crops.  I  noticed  here,  as  else- 
where in  the  province,  the  excellence  of  the  Spanish 
used  in  speeches.  As  for  the  treasurer,  we  were 
informed  that  he  had  been  taken  in  hand  at  an 
early  age  by  the  Americans  and  trained,  so  that  in 
making  his  reports  he  had  developed  the  ability  to 
look  upon  the  merits  of  the  question  in  hand.  But 
he  must  feel  himself  to  be  a  unique  person! 

We  rested  here  in  Bayombong  through  the  heat 
of  the  day,  part  going  to  Governor  Bryant's  house, 
the  rest  of  us  to  that  of  Captain  Browne,  the  local 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.  83 

Inspector  of  Constabulary.  I  have  a  grateful  recol- 
lection of  his  hospitality,  as  well  as  of  that  of  his 
brother  officers,  with  whom  we  dined.  Nor  must 
I  forget  the  Standard  Oil  Company.  For  had  not 
Browne  rigged  up  a  shower,  consisting  of  the  Stand- 
ard five-gallon  tin  ?  A  muchacho  filled  it  with  water 
and  pulled  it  up  over  a  pulley,  and  you  got  an  ex- 
cellent shower  from  the  holes  punched  in  the  bot- 
tom. In  fact,  the  Standard  five-gallon  tin  is  as 
well  known  in  the  East  as  its  contents,  and  is  care- 
fully preserved  and  used.  We  had  several  oppor- 
tunities to  bless  its  existence. 

Pleasant  as  was  the  nooning,  it  had  to  end: 
we  mounted  and  rode  on  to  Solano.  On  the  way 
Bubud  insisted  on  drinking  from  a  dirty  swamp  by 
the  roadside,  although  there  was  a  limpid  stream 
not  fifty  yards  ahead  which  he  could  see  as  well  as 
I.  But  there  was  nothing  for  it  but  the  swamp; 
I  accordingly  let  him  have  his  way,  only  to  find  the 
bank  slippery  and  the  water  deep,  so  that  he  went 
in  up  to  his  shoulders,  with  his  hindquarters  on  the 
bank.  While  I  was  trying  to  pull  him  back,  he 
got  in  his  hindquarters,  and  then,  in  further  answer 
to  my  efforts,  sat  down  in  the  water!  And  such 
water!  Thick,  greasy,  smelly!  A  carabao  wallow 
it  was.  He  now  gave  unmistakable  evidence  of  an 
intention  to  lie  down,  when  a  friendly  hand  got 


84  The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

me  up  on  the  bank,  whereupon  Bubud,  concluding 
he  would  get  out  too,  emerged  with  a  coat  of  muddy 
slime.  This  seemed  to  have  no  effect  whatever  on 
his  spirits,  for  on  entering  Solano  a  few  minutes 
later,  to  the  sound  of  bells  and  bands,  with  banners 
fluttering  in  the  breeze,  he  got  into  such  a  swivet 
that  before  I  knew  it  he  was  at  the  head  of  the  pro- 
cession, having  worked  himself  forward  and  planted 
himself  squarely  in  front  of  the  Governor-General's 
horse,  where  he  caracoled  and  curvetted  and  pranced 
to  his  heart's  delight.  As  soon  as  we  got  out  of  the 
barrio,  he  was  quite  satisfied  to  take  a  more  modest 
position,  but  occasions  of  ceremony  seemed  to  de- 
prive him  of  all  realization  of  his  proper  place  in 
the  world. 

The  people  of  Solano  made  a  great  effort  to  have 
us  stay  the  night,  but  it  was  impossible;  we  had  to 
get  on  to  Bagabag.  Solano,  by  the  way,  is  the 
commercial  emporium  of  this  end  of  the  province, 
for  there  is  not  a  single  shop  in  Bayombong.  So 
on  we  went,  through  a  calm,  dignified  afternoon, 
the  country  as  before  impressing  me  with  its  open, 
smiling  valleys,  its  broad  fields,  its  air  of  expectant 
fertility,  inviting  one  to  come  scratch  its  surface, 
if  no  more,  in  order  to  reap  abundant  harvests.  In 
fact,  it  seemed  to  me  that  we  were  riding  through 
typical  farming  land  at  home,  instead  of  through  a 


1 
a 

V 

g 

s 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.  87 

Malay  valley  under  the  tropic.  And  if  anything 
more  were  needed  to  strengthen  the  illusion,  it  was 
a  college  yell,  given  by  a  gang  of  Ifugaos  (the  peo- 
ple we  were  now  immediately  on  our  way  to  visit) 
repairing  a  bridge  we  had  to  cross!  They  did  it 
in  style,  and  naturally  had  no  cheer-leader;  time 
was  kept  by  beating  on  the  floor  of  the  bridge  with 
tools.  For  this  uttering  of  a  shout  of  welcome  or 
of  other  emotion  in  unison  is  a  characteristic  trait 
of  the  Ifugaos,  like  their  using  spoons,  and  can  be 
likened  to  nothing  else  in  the  world  but  our  American 
college  yell. 

Our  reception  at  Bagabag  was  much  like  all 
the  others  we  had  had:  bands,  arches,  addresses, 
one  in  excellent  English.  But  on  this  occasion, 
after  listening  to  a  speech  telling  how  poor  the 
people  were,  how  bad  :he  roads  were,  how  much 
they  needed  Government  help,  etc.,  etc.,  Mr.  Forbes 
squared  off  in  his  answer,  and  told  them  a  few  things, 
as  that  he  had  seen  so  far  not  a  single  lean,  hungry- 
looking  person,  that  the  elements  were  kindly,  that 
they  could  mend  their  own  roads,  and  that  he  was 
tired  of  their  everlasting  complaint  of  poverty  and 
hunger,  when  a  little  work  would  go  a  great  way 
in  this  country  toward  bettering  their  material  con- 
dition. This,  of  course,  is  just  the  kind  of  talk 
these  people  need,  and  the  last  some  of  them  wish 
to  hear. 


CHAPTER  XI. 


We  enter  the  Mountain  Province. — Payawan. — Kiangan,  its  posi- 
tion.— Anitos. — Speech  of  welcome  by  Ifugao  chief. — Detach- 
ment of  native  Constabulary. — Visit  of  Ifugao  chiefs  to  our 
quarters. — -Dancing. 

We  were  now  on  the  borders  of  the  Mountain 
Province;   literally  one  more  river  to  cross,  and  we 
should  turn  our  backs  on  Nueva  Vizcaya.    And  with 
regret,  for  it  is  a  beautiful  smiling  province,  of  fer- 
tile soil,  of  polite  and  hospitable  people,  of  lovely 
mountains,  limpid  streams  and  triumphant  forests. 
In  Dampier's  quaint  words,  spoken  of  another  prov- 
ince, but  equally  true  of  this  one,  "The  Valleys  are 
well  moistned  with  pleasant  Brooks,  and  small  Riv- 
ers of  delicate  Water;    and  have  Trees  of  divers 
sorts  flourishing  and  green  all  the  Year."5      Its  peo- 
ple lack  energy,  perhaps  because  they  have  no  roads ; 
it  may  be  equally  true  that  they  lack  roads  because 
they  have  no  energy.     However  this  may  be,  the 
province  can  and  some  day  will  grow  coffee,  tobacco, 
rice,  and  cocoa  to  perfection;      its  savannahs  will 
furnish  pasturage  for  thousands  of  cattle,  where  now 
some  one  solitary  carabao  serves  only  to  mark  the 
solitude  in  which  he  stands. 


*Dampier's  "Voyages,"  p.  319,  Masefield's  edition. 

88 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon,  89 

We  crossed  the  stream  about  seven  in  the 
morning,  May  i,  and  opened  out  on  an  immense 
field,  which  we  estimated  at  about  thirty-five  hun- 
dred acres,  a  whole  plantation  in  a  ring  fence,  and 
offering  not  the  slightest  suggestion  of  the  tropics 
in  its  aspect.  The  ground  now  broke  and  we  went 
on  down  to  a  bold  stream  so  deep  that  those  of  us 
riding  ponies  got  wet  above  the  knees  and  were 
almost  swept  down  by  the  current.  The  cogon  grass 
in  this  river  bottom  was  the  tallest  I  ever  saw,  some 
clumps  being  well  over  twenty  feet  high.  Then  we 
began  to  climb  till  we  reached  another  divide,  across 
the  stream  at  the  foot  of  which  was  Payawan, 
our  immediate  objective.  Payawan  consists  of  two 
shacks  and  a  name.  Here  we  were  to  have  had 
our  first  meeting  with  the  clans  of  the  Ifugao,  but 
through  some  misunderstanding  they  took  the  place 
of  meeting  to  be  at  Kiangan,  some  miles  further  on ; 
so  we  all  rested  a  while,  and  some  of  us  took  a  swim 
in  the  little  river  we  had  just  crossed,  finding  the 
water  on  first  shock  almost  cold,  but  delightful  be- 
yond belief.  Cootes  and  I  were  quite  satisfied  with 
the  pool  we  found  near  the  shack,  but  Strong  and 
the  rest  thought  they  saw  a  better  one  downstream, 
so  they  crawled  in  the  water  around  a  small  cliff, 
reached  their  pool,  and  then  had  to  walk  a  mile 
and  a  half  through  the  cogon  and  in  the  sun  to  return, 


90  The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

there  being  no  getting  back  upstream.  Now,  if 
there  is  anything  else  hotter  on  the  face  of  the  earth 
than  a  walk  through  the  cogon  in  the  dry  season 
with  the  sun  shining  vertically  down,  it  has  yet  to 
be  discovered. 

At  Payawan  we  were  met  by  Captain  Jeff  D. 
Gallman,  P.  C.,  Lieutenant-Governor  of  the  Sub- 
province  of  Ifugao,  accompanied  by  one  of  his  chief- 
tains, who  made  a  splendid  picture  in  his  barbaric 
finery.  Erect,  thin  of  flank  and  well-muscled,  he 
had  a  bold,  clear  eye  and  a  fearless  look;  around 
his  neck  he  wore  a  complicated  necklace  of  gold 
and  other  beads;  each  upper  arm  was  clasped  by 
a  boar's  tusk,  from  which  stood  out  a  plume  of 
red  horse-hair.  His  gee-string  was  decorated  with 
a  belt  of  white  shells,  the  long  free  end  hanging  down 
in  front,  and  he  had  his  bolo,  like  the  rest  of  his 
people,  in  a  half-scabbard — that  is,  kept  by  two 
straps  on  a  strip  of  wood,  shaped  like  a  scabbard. 
But  all  these  were  mere  accessories;  what  distin- 
guished him  was  his  free  graceful  carriage,  the  light- 
ness and  ease  of  his  motions,  the  frankness  and 
openness  of  his  countenance. 

Our  rest  over,  we  pushed  on  through  a  beau- 
tiful forest,  unlike  any  other  seen  so  far  in  that  it 
was  open.  The  trail  was  excellent,  and  rose  stead- 
ily, for  we  had  to  cross  a  sharp  range  before  making 


IFUGAO  CHIEF  MAKING  A  SPEECH. 


o  o 

53   C3 


o  ^ 
0<s 


•go 

O  -M 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.  93 

Kiangan.  I  shall  make  no  attempt  to  describe  this 
exquisite  afternoon:  but  there  was  a  breeze,  the 
forest  tempered  the  sun's  rays  a  good  part  of  the 
time;  and,  as  we  rose,  range  after  range,  peak  on 
peak  opened  on  our  view,  valley  after  valley  spread 
out  under  our  feet  until  I  wearied  of  admiring. 
The  others  had  gone  over  the  trail  before,  and 
looked  on  nature  with  a  more  matter-of-fact  eye. 
At  the  top  of  the  range  I  noticed  an  outcrop  of 
fossil  coral.  Bubud  distinguished  himself  to-day. 
Gallman,  who  was  trotting  immediately  in  front 
(and  who  ought  to  know  his  own  trails!),  called 
"Ware  hole!"  just  as  Bubud  put  one  of  his  forefeet 
in  it,  pitched  forward,  and  threw  me  over  his  head, 
thus  establishing  a  complete  breach  of  continuity 
between  us.  However,  as  long  as  the  thing  had  to 
happen,  it  was  a  good  place  to  select,  for  the  trail 
was  four  feet  wide  here,  and,  in  case  of  going  over 
the  side,  the  drop  was  only  eighty  or  ninety  feet, 
with  bushes  conveniently  arranged  to  catch  hold  of 
on  the  way  down.  This  was  Bubud's  solitary  mis- 
hap, and  it  was  not  his  fault. 

Past  the  divide,  the  trail  became  a  road  over 
which  one  might  have  marched  a  field  battery,  so 
broad  and  firm  and  good  was  it:  we  were  nearing 
Kiangan.  Presently  we  turned  a  low  spur  to  the 
left,  and  the  Ifugao  town  burst  upon  our  view.  It 


94  The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

was  the  headquarters  of  a  Spanish  Comandancia  in 
the  old  days,  and  here  Padre  Juan  Villaverde  lived 
and  worked,  seeking  to  convert  the  people,  and  to 
teach  them  to  grow  coffee  and  to  plant  European 
vegetables.  The  mission,  however  came  to  naught, 
leaving  behind  no  trace  visible  to  the  casual  trav- 
eller, save  a  few  lone  cabbages:  the  garrison  main- 
tained here  was  massacred  to  a  man,, the  native  who 
surprised  and  cut  down  the  sentry  being  pointed  out 
to  us  the  next  day.  Kiangan  was  celebrated  in 
Spanish  times,  and  even  more  recently,  as  the  home 
of  some  of  the  most  desperate  head-hunters  of  the 
Archipelago.  But,  thanks  to  Gallman,  head-hunting 
in  the  Ifugao  country  is  now  a  thing  of  the  past. 
The  town  stands  on  the  top  of  a  bastion-like 
terrace,  thrust  avalanche-wise  and  immense  between 
its  pinnacled  mountain  walls;  the  site  is  not  only 
of  great  beauty,  but  of  great  natural  strength,  like 
nearly  all  the  other  considerable  settlements  we  saw 
on  this  journey.  The  two  mountain  walls  approach 
somewhat  like  the  branches  of  the  letter  V,  having 
between  them,  near  their  intersection,  as  it  were, 
the  natural  bastion  mentioned  rising  from  the  bed 
of  the  Ibilao  River,  hundreds  of  feet  below,  and 
some  thousands  of  yards  distant.  The  whole  po- 
sition is  on  a  large  generous  scale;  it  would  have 
appealed  to  the  ancient  Greeks.  And  so,  of  course, 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.  95 

we  yet  had  some  distance  to  go,  and  now  made  our 
way  through  rice-paddies,  echeloned  on  the  flanks 
of  the  spurs  that  came  down  to  meet  us.  These 
rice- terraces  (sementeras) ,  the  first  I  had  seen,  at 
once  excited  my  interest,  to  the  scorn  of  Pack,  who 
bade  me  wait  until  we  had  come  upon  the  real 
thing:  these  were  nothing.  It  turned  out  he  was 
entirely  right;  but  I  thought  them  remarkable,  and 
anyway  they  were  most  refreshing  and  cooling  to 
look  at,  after  our  long  hot  ride.  The  sound  of  run- 
ning waters,  the  sight  of  the  little  runlets  bubbling 
away  for  dear  life,  of  the  tall  rice  swaying  to  the 
breeze,  the  acropolis  before  us  with  its  clumps  of 
waving  bamboos,  of  nodding  bananas,  and  the  soft 
afternoon  light  over  all,  the  combination  made  a 
picture  that  will  live  in  my  recollection.  The  im- 
pression immediately  formed  was  that  of  a  scene 
of  quiet  peace  and  beauty,  more  or  less  rudely 
shocked  the  following  day.  As  we  drew  nearer 
and  nearer  we  were  welcomed  by  arches  of  bam- 
boo decorated  with  native  flowers  and  plants, 
and  guarded  by  life-size  anitos*  of  both  sexes  in 

*  According  to  De  Morga  (p.  196,  Retana's  edition),  the  anito 
was  a  representation  of  the  devil  under  horrible  and  frightful  forms, 
to  which  fruits  and  food  and  perfumes  were  offered.  Each  house 
had  and  "made"  (or  performed)  its  anitos,  there  being  no  temples, 
without  ceremony  or  any  special  solemnity.  "This  word,"  says 
Retana,  "is  ordinarily  interpreted  'idol/  although  it  has  other  mean- 
ings. There  were  anitos  of  the  mountains,  of  the  fields,  of  the  sea. 


96  The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

puris  naturalibus,  cut  out  of  the  tree  fern,  but  with 
no  connotation  whatever  of  indecency.  For  these 
statues  are  either  an  innocent  expression  of  nature, 
or,  what  seems  more  likely,  an  expression  of  Nature 
or  phallic  worship. 

We  had  now  got  up  to  the  parade  of  the  cuartel 
(quarters  or  barracks)  and  were  greeted  by  shouts 
from  the  people  gathered  to  welcome  us.  The  chief 
who  had  met  us  at  Payawan,  and  who,  on  foot,  had 
beaten  us  into  Kiangan,  appeared  in  all  his  bravery 
and  with  a  prolonged  "Who-o-o-o-e-e!"  commanded 
silence.  He  then  mounted  a  bamboo  stand  some 
twenty  feet  high,  with  a  platform  on  top,  and  made 
us  a  speech!  Yes,  a  regular  speech,  with  gestures, 
intonations,  and  all  the  rest  of  it.  For  these  Ifugaos 
are  born  orators,  and  love  to  show  their  skill.  Ac- 
cordingly, thanks  to  Mr.  Worcester's  appreciation, 
orators'  tribunes  have  been  put  up  at  points  like 

The  soul  of  an  ancestor,  according  to  some,  became  embodied  as 
a  new  anito,  hence  the  expression,  'to  make  anitos.'  Even  living 
beings,  notably  the  crocodile,  were  regarded  as  anitos  and  worshiped. 
The  anito-figura,  generally  shortened  to  anito,  .  was 

usually  a  figurine  of  wood,  though  sometimes  of  gold."  (Glossary 
to  his  edition  of  De  Morga,  pp.  486-487.) 

"The  anito  of  the  Philippines  is  essentially  a  protecting  spirit." 
(F.  Jagor,  "Travels  in  the  Philippines,"  p.  298,  English  translation, 
London,  Chapman  &  Hall,  1875;  originally  published  in  Berlin, 
1873,  "Reisen  in  den.  Philippinen,"  Weidmannsche  Buchhandlung.) 

"The  religion  of  the  islands,  what  may  be  called  the  true 
religion  of  Filipinos,  consisted  of  the  worship  of  the  anitos.  These 
were  not  gods,  but  the  souls  of  departed  ancestors,  and  each  family 
worshipped  its  own,  in  order  to  obtain  their  favorable  influence." 
(Pardo  de  Tavera,  "Resena  Historica  de  Filipinas,"  Manila,  1906.) 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.  97 

Kiangan;  it  is  strange  that  the  Ifugaos  had  never 
thought  of  it  themselves.  This  tribune,  by  the  way, 
was  ornamented  with  tufts  of  leaves  and  grasses  at 
the  corners.  When  the  speaker  had  done,  he  clapped 
his  hands  over  his  head,  and  all  the  people  followed 
suit. 

Later  on  Gallman,  who  speaks  Ifugao  like  a 
native,  interpreted  for  us.  The  speaker  told  his 
people  that  a  great  honor  had  been  done  them  by 
this  visit  of  the  "Commission,"  and  that,  besides, 
the  great  apo*  of  all  had  come,  too.  His  arrival 
could  not  fail  to  be  of  good  luck  for  them,  as  it 
meant  more  rice,  more  chickens,  more  pigs,  more 
babies,  more  good  in  all  ways  than  they  ever  had 
had  before.  As  other  speeches  began  to  threaten, 
on  a  hasty  intimation  from  Mr.  Forbes  we  moved 
on  to  our  quarters,  preceded  by  the  escort  of  Con- 
stabulary. 

This  detachment,  composed  entirely  of  Ifugaos, 
would  have  delighted  any  soldier.  They  certainly 
excited  my  admiration  by  the  precision  of  their 
movements,  their  set-up,  and  their  general  appear- 
ance. A  Prussian  Guardsman  could  not  have  been 


*Apo  means  "lord,  master."  In  the  mountains  every  American 
is  called  apo.  "Sir"  in  Tagalo  is  po,  and  the  highest  mountain  of 
the  Archipelago  is  named  Apo.  The  native  word  for  fire  in  these 
parts  is  something  like  apo.  To  distinguish  Mr.  Forbes  from  other 
apos,  he  was  called  apo  apo  in  communicating  with  the  natives. 


98  The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

more  erect.  There  are  five  companies  of  Constab- 
ulary in  the  Mountain  Province,  each  serving  in 
the  part  of  the  country  from  which  recruited,  and 
each  retaining  in  its  uniform  the  colors  and  such 
other  native  features  as  could  be  turned  to  account. 
Thus  the  only  " civilized,"  so  to  say,  elements  are 
the  forage  cap  and  khaki  jacket  worn  directly  over 
the  skin;  otherwise  the  legs,  feet,  and  body  are 
bare;  the  local  gee-string  is  worn,  with  the  free  end 
hanging  down  in  front.  Here  at  Kiangan  each  man 
has  below  the  knee  the  native  brass  leglet,  and  on 
the  left  hip  the  bultong,  or  native  bag,  a  sporran, 
indeed,  showing  the  local  influence  in  its  blue  and 
white  stripes.  Thus  accoutered,  the  first  impression 
formed  was  that  these  troops  were  actually  high- 
landers;  on  reflection,  this  impression  is  correct,  for 
they  are  highlanders  in  every  sense  of  the  word. 
I  obtained  permission  to  inspect  the  detachment 
after  the  honors  were  over,  and  found  their  equip- 
ment and'uniforms  in  admirable  condition.  Of  their 

A 

discipline,  everyone  spoke  in  the  highest  terms;  in- 
deed, we  had  next  day,  as  will  soon  appear,  an  ex- 
ample of  this  quality.  Their  loyalty  to  the  Gov- 
ernment is  unquestioned.  These  mountaineers  are 
all,  as  might  be  expected,  hardy,  strong,  able-bodied, 
and  active;  in  fact,  the  physical  qualities  of  these 
mountain  people  are  remarkable.  But  at  Kiangan, 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.  99 

as  elsewhere,  it  was  noticeable  that  discipline,  reg- 
ular habits,  regular  food,  had  improved  the  natur- 
ally good  physical  qualities  of  the  people.  The  Con- 
stabulary appeared  to  me  to  be  physically  better 
than  the  tribe  from  which  they  were  drawn.  I  no- 
ticed, too,  that  after  protracted  wearing  of  the  khaki 
the  skin  of  the  body  was  several  shades  lighter  than 
that  of  the  legs. 

We  now  entered  our  quarters,  being  those  of 
Lieutenant  Meimban,  the  native  officer  in  command. 
Here,  too,  we  met  Mr.  Barton,  the  local  school  super- 
intendent. His  predecessor  had  had  to  be  relieved, 
because  one  day,  as  he  was  going  up  the  trail,  an 
Ifugao  threw  a  spear  "into"  him,  as  they  say  in 
the  mountains,  and  he  consequently  got  a  sort 
of  distaste  for  the  place,  although  it  was  clearly 
established  in  the  investigation  that  followed,  and 
carefully  explained  to  him,  that  it  was  all  a  mis- 
take, and  that  the  spear  had  been  intended  for 
somebody  else.  Mr.  Barton  is  doing  a  useful  work 
here  in  devoting  his  spare  time  and  energy  to  a 
study  of  the  Ifugao  religion  with  its  myths  and 
mythology.  He  told  me  that  he  had  so  far  defined 
seven  hundred  different  spirits  and  was  not  sure 
that  he  had  got  to  the  end  of  them.  The  publication 
of  Mr.  Barton's  research  is  awaited  with  some  avid- 
ity by  the  Americans  living  in  the  Province,  as  en- 


ioo          The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

abling  them  to  have  a  better  control  of  the  people 
through  their  religious  beliefs. 

We  had  not  long  been  seated  in  our  quarters 
before  a  deputation  of  chiefs  with  their  gansas  and 
a  large  number  of  bubud*  jars  entered,  and  offered 
us  bubud  to  drink.  Very  soon  our  visitors  be- 
gan to  dance  for  us  to  the  sound  of  the  gansa, 
their  dance  being  different  from  that  we  had 
seen  a  few  days  before  at  Campote.  As,  however, 
the  next  day  was  one  dance  from  morning  to 
night,  I  shall  not  spend  any  more  time  upon 
this  affair,  except  to  say  that,  turn  about  being 
fair  play,  Cootes  got  up  and  gave  such  a  repre- 
sentation as  he  was  able  of  a  pas  seul.  When 
he  had  done,  our  visitors  started  anew,  and  the 
gansas  proving  irresistible,  Cootes  and  I  joined  in. 
The  steps,  poise  of  body,  motion  of  the  arms  and 
hands  are  so  marked  and  peculiar  that  a  little  ob- 
servation and  practice  enabled  us  in  a  short  time 
to  produce  at  least  a  fair  imitation;  indeed,  so  suc- 
cessful were  our  efforts  that  we  were  informed  we 
should  be  invited  to  dance  on  the  morrow  before 
the  multitudes!  This  brought  us  up  standing,  and 
it  was  time  anyway.  So  our  chieftains  took  their 
leave,  their  bubud  jars  remaining  in  our  charge. 

*Now  frequently  called  ub-ub,  i.  e.,  "spring,"  in  the  Ifugao 
country;  a  change  of  name  due  to  Gallman. 


IFUGAO  HEAD-HUNTER  FULL-DRESS. 
Showing  rain-coat,  so-called  head-basket,  bolo,  bultong,  and  waist-belt. 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Xorthern  Luzon.          103 

These  jars  are  worth  more  than  a  passing  mention: 
the  oldest  ones  come  from  China,  and  are  held  in 
such  high  esteem  by  the  Ifugaos  that  they  will  part 
with  them  for  neither  love  nor  money.  According  to 
the  experts,  some  of  them  are  examples  of  the  earli- 
est known  forms  of  Chinese  porcelain,  and  are  most 
highly  prized  by  collectors  and  museums.* 

We  put  up  our  mosquito-bars  this  night,  the 
only  time  on  the  trip,  but  I  think  without  any 
necessity.  So  far  we  had  not  seen,  heard  or  felt  a 
single  fly  or  mosquito,  and  were  to  see  none  until 
we  struck  civilization  once  more  in  the  Cagayan 
Valley. 

*See  De  Morga,  " Sucesos,"  etc.,  p.  184,  Retana's  edition, 
and  Retana's  note  on  the  passage;  see  also  Jagor,  "Travels,"  etc., 
p.  162  et  seq. 


CHAPTER  XII. 


Day  opens  badly. — Ifugao  houses. — The  people  assemble. — Danc- 
ing. —  Speeches.  —  White  paper  streamers.  —  Head-hunter 
dance. — Canao. 

Needless  to  say  we  were  up  betimes  the  next 
morning,  May  2d,  for  the  clans  were  to  gather,  and 
the  day  would  hardly  be  long  enough  for  all  it  was 
to  hold.  The  day  began  ominously.  As  Kiangan 
is  a  sort  of  headquarters,  it  has  a  guard-house  for 
the  service  of  short  imprisonments,  a  post-and-rail 
affair  made  of  bamboo  under  the  cuartel.  For  while 
our  administration  is  kindly,  these  mountaineers 
from  the  first  have  had  to  learn,  if  not  to  feel  as  yet, 
that  they  must  be  punished  if  guilty  of  infringing 
such  laws  and  discipline  as  have  so  far  been  found 
applicable.  Accordingly,  our  guard-house  held  two 
men,  sentenced  for  twenty  days,  for  having  threat- 
ened the  life  of  one  of  their  head  men.  Short  as 
was  the  sentence,  these  two  men  had  nevertheless 
dug  a  passage  in  the  earthen  floor  of  their  quarters, 
and  had  just  the  night  before  opened  the  outer  end 
of  it,  but  not  enough  to  admit  the  passage  of  a 
human  body.  A  private  of  Constabulary,  passing 
by  this  morning,  stooped  to  examine  this  hole  new 

104 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.          105 

to  him,  when  one  of  the  prisoners  threw  a  spear  at 
him,  made  of  a  stalk  of  runo*  the  head  being  a 
small  strip  of  iron  which  he  had  kept  concealed  in 
his  gee-string.  So  true  was  his  aim  that,  although 
he  had  to  throw  his  improvised  spear  between  the 
rails,  he  nevertheless  struck  the  private  in  the  neck, 
cutting  his  jugular  vein,  so  that  in  five  minutes  he 
was  dead.  The  pen  was  now  entered  for  the  purpose 
of  shackling  the  criminal,  when  he  announced  that 
he  would  kill  any  white  man  that  laid  hands  on  him. 
Upon  Lieutenant  Meimban  of  the  Constabulary  ad- 
vancing, both  of  the  prisoners  rushed  him.  In  the 
mellay  that  followed  the  murderer  was  shot  and 
killed  and  his  companion  badly  beaten  up;  Strong 
later  had  to  put  seventeen  stitches  in  one  scalp 
wound  alone.  Although  the  rancheria  from  which 
the  murdered  private  came  was  two  hours  off,  so 
that  it  usually  took  four  hours  to  send  a  message 
and  get  an  answer,  yet  an  hour  and  a  half  after 
the  man  died  a  runner  came  in  to  ask  for  his 
body  so  it  could  be  suitably  buried.  Altogether, 
this  double  killing  damped  our  spirits  considerably; 
for  one  thing,  there  was  no  telling  how  it  would  be 
received,  particularly  if  there  should  be  any  ex- 
cessive drinking  of  bubud;  there  were  very  few  of 

*Runo  is  a  stiff  reed  grass  growing  to  several  feet,  the  mountain 
cousin  of  the  cogon  of  the  plains. 


106         The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

us,  mostly  unarmed,  and  the  Ifugaos  were  coming 
in  hundreds  at  a  time,  so  that  long  before  the  fore- 
noon was  well  under  way  several  thousands  had 
collected.  However,  on  moving  out,  we  could  not 
find  that  the  cheerfulness  of  the  people  had  been  in 
the  least  disturbed. 

Before  beginning  the  business  of  the  day  we 
walked  about  the  village  and  examined  one  or  two 
houses.  These  are  all  of  one  room,  entered  by  a  ladder 
drawn  up  at  night,  and  set  up  on  stout  posts  seven  or 
eight  feet  high;  the  roof  is  thatched,  and  the  walls, 
made  of  wattle  (suali) ,  flare  out  from  the  base  deter- 
mined by  the  tops  of  the  posts.  In  cutting  the  posts 
down  to  suitable  size  (say  10  inches  in  diameter),  a 
flange,  or  collar,  is  left  near  the  top  to  keep  rats  out; 
chicken-coops  hang  around,  and  formerly  human 
skulls,  too,  were  set  about.  But  the  Ifugaos,  thanks 
to  Gallman,  as  already  said,  have  abandoned  head- 
hunting, and  the  skulls  in  hand,  if  kept  at  all,  are 
now  hidden  inside  their  owner's  houses,  their  places 
being  taken  by  carabao  heads  and  horns.  One  house 
had  a  tahibi,  or  rest-couch;  only  rich  people  can 
own  these,  cut  out  as  they  are  of  a  single  log,  in 
longitudinal  cross-section  like  an  inverted  and  very 
flat  V  with  suitable  head-  and  foot-supports.  The 
notable  who  wishes  to  own  one  of  these  luxurious 
couches  gets  his  friends  to  cut  down  the  tree  (which 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Xorthern  Luzon.          109 

is  necessarily  of  very  large  size),  to  haul  the  log, 
and  to  carve  out  the  couch,  feeding  them  the  while. 
Considering  the  lack  of  tools,  trails,  and  animals, 
the  labor  must  be  incredible  and  the  cost  enormous. 
However,  wealth  will  have  its  way  in  Kiangan  as 
well  as  in  Paris. 

By  the  time  we  had  done  the  village,  the  hour 
of  business  had  come,  and  we  moved  up  to  the 
little  parade  in  front  of  the  cuartel,  where  an  enor- 
mous crowd  had  already  assembled.  As  at  Cam- 
pote,  so  here,  and  for  the  same  reasons,  very  few 
old  women  were  present,  but  about  as  many  young 
ones  and  children  as  there  were  men.  Our  approach 
was  the  signal  for  the  dancing  to  begin,  and  once 
begun,  it  lasted  all  day,  the  gansas  never  ceasing 
their  invitation.  Apparently  anybody  could  join 
in,  and  many  did,  informal  circles  being  formed 
here  and  there,  for  the  Ifugaos,  like  all  the  other 
highlanders,  dance  around  in  a  circle.  Both  men 
and  women  took  part,  eyes  on  a  point  of  the  ground 
a  yard  or  so  ahead,  the  knees  a  little  bent,  left  foot 
in  front,  body  slightly  forward  on  the  hips,  left  arm 
out  in  front,  hand  upstretched  with  fingers  joined, 
right  arm  akimbo,  with  hand  behind  right  hip.  The 
musicians  kneel,  stick  the  forked-stick  handle  of  the 
gansa  in  their  gee-strings,  with  the  gansa  convex 
side  up  on  their  thighs,  and  use  both  hands,  the 


no         The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

right  sounding  the  note  with  a  downward  stroke, 
the  left  serving  to  damp  the  sound.  The  step  is 
a  very  dignified,  slow  shuffle,  accompanied  by  slow 
turns  and  twists  of  the  left  hand,  and  a  peculiar 
and  rapid  up-and-down  motion  of  the  right. 

True  to  what  had  been  said  the  day  before,  a 
particularly  large  circle  was  formed,  and  Cootes  and 
I  were  invited  to  join,  which  we  did;  if  any  con- 
clusion may  be  drawn  from  the  applause  we  got 
(for  the  Ifugaos  clap  hands),  why,  modesty  apart, 
we  upheld  the  honor  of  the  Service. 

Every  now  and  then  the  orators  had  their  turn, 
for  a  resounding  ' '  Whoo-o-ee ! "  would  silence  the 
multitudes,  and  some  speaker  would  mount  the 
tribune  and  give  vent  to  an  impassioned  discourse. 
One  of  these  bore  on  the  killing  of  the  prisoner  that 
morning:  the  orator  declared  that  he  was  a  bad 
man,  and  that  he  had  met  with  a  just  end,  that 
the  people  must  understand  that  they  must  behave 
themselves  properly,  and  so  on.  I  forget  how  many 
speeches  were  made ;  but  the  tribune  was  never  long 
unoccupied.  Another  performance  of  the  day  was 
the  distribution  of  strips  of  white  onion-skin  paper. 
On  one  of  his  previous  trips  Mr.  Worcester  had 
noticed  that  the  people  had  taken  an  old  newspaper 
he  had  brought  with  him,  cut  it  up  into  strips, 
and  tied  them  to  the  hair  by  way  of  ornament. 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.          in 

Acting  on  this  hint,  it  is  his  habit  to  take 
with  him  on  his  trips  to  this  country  thousands 
of  strips,  and  everybody  gets  a  share  according 
to  rank,  a  chief  five,  his  wife  four,  an  ordinary 
person  three,  and  little  children  two.  Accord- 
ingly, he  spent  hours  this  day  handing  out  these 
strips,  for  this  was  a  duty  that  could  not  be  dele- 
gated: the  strips  must  come  from  the  hands  of  the 
"Commission"  himself.  By  afternoon,  every  man, 
woman,  and  child — and  there  were  thousands  of 
them  all  told — was  flying  these  white  streamers  from 
the  head,  the  combined  resulting  effect  being  pleasing 
and  graceful.  Meanwhile  the  people  kept  on  com- 
ing from  their  rancherias,  one  arrival  creating  some- 
thing of  a  stir,  being  that  of  the  Princesa,  wife  of 
the  orator  who  had  welcomed  us  the  day  before. 
She  came  in  state,  reclining  in  a  sort  of  bag  hanging 
from  a  bamboo  borne  on  the  shoulders  of  some  of 
her  followers.  She  had  an  umbrella,  and,  if  I  recol- 
lect aright,  was  smoking  a  cigar.  On  emerging 
from  her  bag,  a  circle  formed  about  her,  and  she 
was  graciously  pleased  to  dance  for  us,  no  one  ven- 
turing to  join  her.  As  she  was  fat  and  scant  o' 
breath,*  her  performance  was  characterized  by  por- 

*The  Princesa  was  the  only  fat  person  we  saw  in  the  moun- 
tains; apparently  these  highlanders  all  grow  thin  with  age,  and 
wrinkled  from  head  to  foot. 


ii2         The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

lentous  deliberation,  precision,  and  dignity,  and  was 
as  palpably  agreeable  to  her  as  it  was  curious  to  us. 
The  great  performance  of  the  morning,  how- 
ever, was  a  head-hunter  dance,  arranged  by  Barton; 
that  is,  he  had  gone  out  a  day  or  two  before  and 
told  a  neighboring  rancheria,  that  they  must  furnish 
a  show  of  the  sort  for  the  apos  whose  visit  was  im- 
minent. But,  according  to  the  old  women  of  the 
village,  he  had  made  a  great  mistake  in  that  he  said 
it  was  not  necessary  to  hold  a  canao  in  advance.  A 
canao  (buni  in  Ifugao),  as  already  explained,  is  a 
ceremonious  occasion,  celebrated  by  dancing,  much 
drinking  of  bubud,  the  killing  of  a  pig,  speeches. 
Whenever  an  affair  of  moment  is  in  hand,  such  as 
a  funeral  or  a  head-hunting  expedition,  a  canao  is 
held.  Our  entire  stay  at  Kiangan  might  be.  called 
a  canao,  or,  rather,  it  was  made  up  of  canaos.  Now 
when  Barton,  two  or  three  days  before,  refused  to 
canao,  the  old  women  shook  their  heads,  declaring 
that  something  would  happen,  and  the  killings  of 
the  morning  were  at  once  summoned  as  proof 
that  they  were  right  and  he  was  wrong.  However 
this  may  be,  not  long  after  the  Princesa's  dance 
we  heard  below  us  a  cadenced  sound  and  saw  a 
long  column  in  file  slowly  approaching.  Its  head 
was  formed  of  warriors  armed  with  spears  and  shields 
stained  black  with  white  zig-zags  across;  the  lead- 


•—I 


Drawn  byjGlassford. 

SILIPAN  IFUCAO  EARRING. 


Drawn  by  Glassford. 

SILIPAN" IFUGAO  EARRING  AND  FOR  NECKLACE-BEAD. 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.          1 15 

ing  warrior  walked  backward,  continually  making 
thrusts  at  the  next  man  with  his  spear.  A  pig  had 
immediately  preceded,  trussed  by  his  feet  to  a  bam- 
boo, and  interfering  mightily  with  the  music  that 
followed.  This  was  percussive  in  character,  and 
was  produced  by  twenty-five  or  thirty  men  beating 
curved  instruments,  made  of  very  hard,  resonant 
wood,  with  sticks.  These  musicians  marched  along 
almost  doubled  over,  and  would  lean  in  unison  first 
to  the  right  and  then  to  the  left,  striking  first  one 
end,  then  the  other  of  their  instruments,  which  they 
held  in  the  middle  by  a  bejuco  string  from  a  hole 
made  for  the  purpose.  The  note  was  not  unmusicak 
Many  of  the  men  had  their  head-baskets  on  their 
backs,  and  one  or  two  of  them  the  palm-leaf  rain- 
coat. I  had  never  imagined  that  it  was  possible 
for  human  beings  to  advance  as  slowly  as  did  these 
warriors;  in  respect  of  speed,  our  most  dignified 
funerals  would  suffer  by  comparison.  The  truth  is, 
they  were  dancing.  They  got  up  the  hill  at  last, 
however ;  laid  the  pig  down  in  the  middle  of  the  vast 
circle  that  had  instantly  formed,  and  then  began 
the  ceremonious  head-dance.  Two  or  three  men, 
after  various  words  had  been  said,  would  march 
around  in  stately  fashion,  winding  up  at  the  pig, 
across  whose  body  they  would  lay  their  spears.  On 
this  an  old  man  would  run  out,  and  remove  the 


u6         The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

spears,  when  the  thing  would  be  repeated.  At  last, 
a  tall,  handsome  young  man,  splendidly  turned  out 
in  all  his  native  embellishments,  on  reaching  the 
pig,  allowed  his  companions  to  retire  while  he  him- 
self stood,  and,  facing  his  party  with  a  smile,  said 
a  few  words.  Then,  without  looking  at  his  victim, 
and  without  ceasing  to  speak,  he  suddenly  thrust 
his  spear  into  the  pig's  heart,  withdrawing  it  so 
quickly  that  the  blade  remained  unstained  with 
blood;  as  quick  and  accurate  a  thing  as  ever  seen! 
Of  course,  this  entire  canao  was  full  of  meaning  to 
the  initiated.  Barton  said  it  was  a  failure,  and  he 
ought  to  know;  but  it  was  very  interesting  to  us. 
I  was  particularly  struck  by  the  bearing  of  these 
men,  their  bold,  free  carriage  and  fearless  expression 
of  countenance. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


Dress  of  the  people. — Butchery  of    carabao. — Prisoner  runs    amok 
and  is  killed. 

It  was  now  drawing  near  midday,  and  as  though 
by  common  understanding  we  all  separated  to  get 
something  to  eat.  Our  head-dancers  formed  up  and 
resumed  their  slow  march  back  down  the  hill;  only 
this  time,  Cootes  and  I  borrowed  instruments  and 
joined  the  band,  partly  to  see  how  it  felt  to  walk  in 
so  incredibly  slow  a  procession,  and  partly  for  me, 
at  least,  to  try  the  music.  A  little  of  it  went  a  long 
way. 

The  afternoon  was,  with  two  exceptions,  much 
like  the  forenoon.  Tiffin  over,  Mr.  Worcester  and 
Gallman  held  councils  with  the  head  men  of  the  va- 
rious rancherias  present;  Pack  inspected;  and  the 
rest  of  us  moved  about,  looking  on  at  whatever  in- 
terested us. 

As  elsewhere,  but  few  clothes  are  seen:  the 
women  wear  a  short  striped  skirt  sarong-wise,  but 
bare  the  bosom.  However,  they  are  beginning  to 
cover  it,  just  as  a  few  of  them  had  regular  um- 
brellas. They  leave  the  navel  uncovered;  to  con- 
ceal it  would  be  immodest.  The  men  are  naked 

117 


n8         The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

save  the  gee-string,  unless  a  leglet  of  brass  wire 
under  the  knee  be  regarded  as  a  garment;  the 
bodies  of  many  of  them  are  tattooed  in  a  leaf -like 
pattern.  A  few  men  had  the  native  blanket  hang- 
ing from  their  shoulders,  but  leaving  the  body  bare 
in  front.  The  prevailing  color  is  blue;  at  Campote 
it  is  red.  The  hair  looked  as  though  a  bowl  had 
been  clapped  on  the  head  at  an  angle  of  forty-five 
degrees,  and  all  projecting  locks  cut  off.  If  the 
hair  is  long,  it  means  that  the  wearer  has  made  a 
vow  to  let  it  grow  until  he  has  killed  someone  or 
burnt  an  enemy's  house.  We  saw  such  a  long- 
haired man  this  day.  Some  of  the  men  wore  over 
their  gee-strings  belts  made  of  shell  (mother-of- 
pearl),  with  a  long  free  end  hanging  down  in  front. 
These  belts  are  very  costly  and  highly  thought  of. 
Earrings  are  common,  but  apparently  the  lobe  of 
the  ear  is  not  unduly  distended.  Here  at  Kiangan, 
the  earring  consists  of  a  spiral  of  very  fine  brass 
wire. 

It  is  pertinent  to  remark  that  the  Ifugaos  treat 
their  women  well;  for  example,  the  men  do  the 
heavy  work,  and  there  are  no  women  cargadores. 
In  fact,  the  sexes  seemed  to  me  to  be  on  terms  of 
perfect  equality.  The  people  in  general  appeared 
to  be  cheerful,  good-humored,  and  hospitable.  Mr. 
Worcester  pointed  out  that  whereas  most  of  the 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.          119 

men  present  were  unarmed  (at  any  rate,  they  had 
neither  spears  nor  shields),  in  his  early  trips  through 
this  country,  as  elsewhere,  every  man  came  on  fully 
armed,  and  the  ground  was  stuck  full  of  spears, 
each  with  its  shield  leaning  on  it,  the  owner  near 
by  with  the  rest  of  his  rancheria,  and  all  ready  at 
a  moment's  notice  to  kill  and  take  heads.  For 
although  these  people  are  all  of  the  same  blood  and 
speak  nearly  the  same  language,  still  there  is  no 
tribal  government;  the  people  live  in  independent 
settlements  (rancher  ias) ,  all  as  recently  as  five  or 
six  years  ago  hostile  to  one  another,  and  taking 
heads  at  every  opportunity.  This  state  of  affairs 
was  undoubtedly  partly  due  to  the  almost  complete 
lack  of  communication  then  prevailing,  thus  limit- 
ing the  activities  of  each  rancheria  to  the  growing 
of  food,  varied  by  an  effort  to  take  as  many  heads 
as  possible  from  the  rancheria  across  the  valley, 
without  undue  loss  of  its  own.  And  what  is  said 
here  of  the  Ifugao  is  true  also  of  the  Ilongot,  the 
Igorot,  the  Kalinga,  the  Apayao,  and  of  all  the  rest 
of  the  head-hunting  highlanders  of  Northern  Luzon. 
The  results  accomplished  by  Mr.  Worcester  with 
all  these  people  simply  exceed  belief.  But  this  sub- 
ject, being  worthy  of  more  than  passing  mention, 
will  be  considered  later.  The  afternoon  is  wearing 


120         The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

on,  and  we  must  get  at  the  two  exceptions  men- 
tioned some  little  time  ago. 

Since  these  highlanders  have  but  little  meat  to 
eat,  it  is  the  policy  of  the  Government,  on  the  oc- 
casion of  these  annual  progresses,  to  furnish  a  few 
carabaos,  so  that  some  of  the  people,  at  least,  while 
they  are  the  guests  of  the  Government,  may  have 
what  they  are  fondest  of  and  most  infrequently  get. 
And  they  have  been  until  recently  allowed  to  slaugh- 
ter the  carabao,  according  to  their  own  custom,  in 
competition,  catch-as-catch-can,  so  to  say.  For  the 
poor  beast,  tethered  and  eating  grass  all  unconscious 
of  its  fate,  or  else  directly  led  out,  is  surrounded  by 
a  mob  of  men  and  boys,  each  with  his  bolo.  At  a 
signal  given,  the  crowd  rushes  on  the  animal,  and 
each  man  hacks  and  cuts  at  the  part  nearest  to 
him,  the  rule  of  the  game  being  that  any  part  cut 
off  must  be  carried  out  of  the  rush  and  deposited  on 
the  ground  before  it  can  become  the  bearer's  property. 
Accordingly,  no  sooner  is  a  piece  separated  and 
brought  out  than  it  is  pounced  on  by  others  who 
try  to  take  it  away;  usually  a  division  takes  place, 
subject  to  further  sub-division,  however,  if  other 
claimants  are  at  hand.  The  competition  is  not 
only  tremendous,  but  dangerous,  for  in  their  excite- 
ment the  contestants  frequently  wound  one  another. 
The  Government  (i.  e.,  Mr.  Worcester),  while  at 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.          121 

first  necessarily  allowing  this  sort  of  butchering, 
has  steadily  discouraged  and  gradually  reduced  it, 
so  that  at  Kiangan,  for  example,  the  people  were 
told  that  this  was  the  last  time  they  would  ever  be 
allowed  to  kill  beef  in  this  fashion.  It  was  pointed 
out  to  them  that  the  purpose  being  to  furnish  meat, 
their  method  of  killing  was  so  uneconomical  that 
the  beef  was  really  ruined,  and  nobody  got  what 
he  was  really  entitled  to. 

On  this  occasion,  the  carabao  was  tied  to  a 
stake  in  a  small  swale  and  I  nerved  myself  to 
look  on.  I  saw  the  first  cuts,  the  poor  beast 
look  up  from  his  grass  in  astonishment,  totter, 
reel,  and  fall  as  blows  rained  on  him  from  all 
sides.  The  crowd,  closing  in,  mercifully  hid  the 
rest  from  view;  the  victim  dying  game  without  a 
sound.  In  this  respect,  as  well  as  in  many  others, 
the  carabao  is  a  very  different  animal  from  the  pig. 
But,  while  looking  on  at  the  mound  of  cutting, 
hacking,  sweating,  and  struggling  butchers,  the  smell 
of  fresh  blood  over  all,  something  occurred  that 
completely  shifted  the  center  of  interest.  A  boy 
came  up  to  us  in  great  excitement  to  say  that  the 
prisoner  had  got  hold  of  a  bayonet  and  was  running 
amok.  This  was  the  prisoner  of  the  morning  who 
had  been  so  badly  beaten;  to  make  him  more 
comfortable,  he  had  been  laid  on  the  veranda  of 


122          The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

the  cuartel  (just  behind  us),  hobbled,  but  otherwise 
free.  The  boy  spoke  the  truth;  the  prisoner  had 
snatched  his  bayonet  from  a  passing  Constabulary 
private,  and,  turning  into  the  cuartel,  made  for  the 
provincial  treasurer,  who  was  busy  inside.  Him  he 
chased  out,  getting  over  the  ground  with  extraor- 
dinary rapidity,  considering  his  wounds  and  hob- 
bles ;  when  we  turned  to  look,  the  prisoner  had  come 
out  and  was  running  for  just  anybody.  There  was 
now  but  one  thing  to  do,  and  done  it  was.  Some 
one  in  authority  called  out  to  the  sentry  on  duty 
before  the  cuartel,  " Kill  him! "  The  sentry,  who  up 
to  this  time  had  been  walking  up  and  down  as  a 
sentry  should,  brought  down  his  carbine,  aimed  at 
the  running  man,  and  dropped  him  in  his  tracks 
by  a  bullet  through  the  heart.  He  then  ejected 
his  empty  cartridge-case,  shouldered  his  piece,  and 
continued  to  walk  his  post  as  unconcernedly  as 
though  he  had  shot  a  mad  dog ;  as  striking  an  example 
of  discipline  as  any  soldier  could  wish  to  see.  So 
far  as  I  could  mark,  this  occurrence  made  no  im- 
pression on  the  people  gathered  together.  The  day 
went  on  as  before.  We  should  recollect,  however, 
that  these  highlanders  have  no  nerves,  have  in  the 
the  past  held  human  life  cheap,  and  must  have 
realized  in  this  case  that  the  poor  fellow  who  had 
been  shot  was  himself  trying  to  take  human  life; 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.          125 

according  to  mountain  law,  he  had  got  his  deserts. 
Hence  no  astonishment  should  be  felt  that,  while 
this  human  tragedy  was  being  played  to  a  finish, 
the  carabao-butchers  had  not  turned  a  hair's  breadth 
from  their  business.  For  when  I  turned  again  to 
see  how  they  were  getting  on,  I  found  that  they 
had  disappeared,  and,  walking  to  the  place,  saw 
not  a  trace  of  the  butchery  save  the  trampled  ground 
and  a  small  heap  of  undigested  grass.  Mr.  Wor- 
cester had  told  me  before  that  I  should  find  this 
to  be  the  case;  not  a  shred  of  hoof,  hide,  or  bone 
had  been  left  behind. 

The  multitude  had  now  begun  to  disperse,  for 
the  sun's  rays  were  growing  level,  and  the  day  was 
over.  We  were  glad  ourselves  to  find  our  quarters, 
for  we  had  had  some  ten  hours  of  gansa-beating, 
dancing,  and  all  the  rest  of  it:  the  canao  had  been 
a  great  success,  and,  although  bubud  had  passed 
vigorously,  the  people  had  made  no  trouble.  We 
wound  up  with  a  little  bridge,  and  there  was,  as 
there  always  is,  some  business  to  be  dispatched  be- 
fore turning  in.  But  we  were  all  soon  sound  asleep, 
for  next  morning  we  had  to  be  up  at  four.* 

*See  Philippine  Journal  of  Science,  July,  1909,  for  Villaverde's 
account  of  the  Ifugaos  of  Kiangan,  translated  and  edited  by  Wor- 
cester, with  notes  and  an  addendum  by  Major  Case,  of  the  Con- 
stabulary. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


Barton's  account  of  a  native  funeral. 

Mr.  Barton,  already  mentioned  as  in  residence 
at  Kiangan  as  local  Superintendent  of  Schools,  went 
out  to  see  the  funeral  of  the  Constabulary  private 
killed  on  the  morning  of  the  2d.  He  was  strongly 
advised  not  to  go,  because  these  highlanders  resent 
more  or  less  the  presence  of  strangers  at  their  fu- 
neral ceremonies.  But  this  made  him  only  the  more 
eager,  as  very  few  Americans,  or  any  others  for  that 
matter,  have  ever  been  present  on  these  occasions. 

Passing  through  Manila  a  month  or  two  later, 
he  very  kindly  dictated  for  me  an  account  of  what 
he  saw,  and  I  give  it  here,  with  his  permission,  in 
his  own  words: 

THE  FUNERAL  OF  AUGUYEN. 

"On  the  third  day  after  the  soldier  was  killed, 
the  principal  funeral  ceremonies  took  place.  To 
these  ceremonies  came  a  great  number  of  people 
from  their  various  rancherias,  the  party  from  each 
rancheria  being  led  by  the  relatives  of  the  soldier, 
some  of  them  very  distant  relatives. 

126 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.          127 

"Aliguyen,  the  dead  soldier,  lived  in  the  ran- 
cheria  of  Nagukaran,  a  rancher ia  until  quite  recently 
very  unfriendly  to  Kiangan,  where  I  live.  Aliguyen, 
however,  had  some  kin  in  Kiangan,  and  this  kin, 
together  with  their  friends,  went  to  the  funeral. 
Their  shields,  as  well  as  the  shields  of  all  who  at- 
tended, were  painted  with  white  markings,  taking 
some  the  form  of  men,  some  of  lizards,  some  were 
zig-zags.  All  men  who  attended  had  a  head-dress 
made  of  the  leaf  petiole  of  the  betel  tree  and  the 
red  leaves  of  the  dongola  plant.  To  these  leaves 
were  attached  pendant  white  feathers.  Everybody 
was  dressed  in  his  best  clout,  and  the  women  in 
their  best  loin-cloths  and  in  all  their  finery  of  gold 
beads  and  agate  necklaces. 

"Nagukaran  is  one  rancher  ia  of  several  in  a 
very  large  valley.  When  I  reached  a  point  in  the 
trail  commanding  this  valley,  there  could  be  seen 
from  various  rancherias  in  the  valley  a  procession 
from  each  of  them  wending  their  way  slowly  toward 
Aliguyen 's  home.  From  the  time  that  they  came 
within  sight  of  the  house,  which  was  sometimes 
when  they  were  a  mile  and  a  half  or  two  miles  from 
it,  each  procession  danced  its  way,  beating  on  the 
striped  shields  with  their  drum-sticks  and  on  their 
bangibang.  This  last  is  a  kind  of  wooden  stick, 
made  of  resonant  hard  wood,  coated  over  with 


128         The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

chicken  blood.  It  is  extremely  old.  It  is  curved 
slightly  and  is  about  two  feet  long,  and  is  held  in 
one  hand  suspended  by  a  bejuco  string  so  that  the 
vibrations  are  not  interfered  with.  It  is  beaten 
with  a  drum-stick,  as  is  also  the  shield.  The  gansa, 
or  brass  gong,  the  usual  musical  instrument  of  the 
Ifugaos,  is  never  used  in  the  funeral  of  a  beheaded 
man.  The  two  men  who  headed  each  procession 
carried  two  spears  each.  Behind  came  a  man  carry- 
ing a  spear  and  shield.  The  two  in  front  faced  the 
on-coming  procession,  stepping  most  of  the  time 
backward,  making  thrusts  toward  the  two  who 
bore  the  spears  and  shields.  The  bearers  of  spear 
and  shield  made  thrusts  at  them,  the  whole  being 
a  dance  which  in  some  respects  resembles  one  of 
the  head-dances  of  the  Bontoc  Igorots.  From  the 
high  place  on  the  trail  where  I  was,  they  looked, 
in  the  distance,  like  nothing  so  much  as  columns 
of  centipedes  or  files  of  ants  all  creeping  slowly 
along  the  dikes  of  the  rice-paddies  toward  the  central 
place.  It  usually  takes  an  hour  for  such  a  procession 
to  cover  one  mile.  The  beating  of  shield  and  stick 
could  easily  be  heard  across  the  wide  valley  on  that 
still  morning. 

"Arriving  at  Aliguyen's  house,  we  found  him 
sitting  on  a  block  facing  the  sun,  lying  against  his 
shield,  which  was  supported  by  the  side  of  the 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.          129 

house.  The  body  was  in  a  terrible  state  of  de- 
composition. It  was  swollen  to  three  times  its  liv- 
ing girth.  Great  blisters  had  collected  under  the 
epidermis,  which  broke  from  time  to  time,  a  brown- 
ish red  fluid  escaping.  The  spear  wound  in  his 
neck  was  plugged  by  a  wooden  spear-head.  In 
each  hand  Aliguyen  held  a  wooden  spear.  No  at- 
tempt whatever  had  been  made  to  prevent  decom- 
position of  the  body  or  the  entrance  to  it  of  flies. 
From  the  mouth  gas  bubbled  out  continually.  Two 
old  women  on  each  side  with  penholder-shaped  loom- 
sticks  about  two  feet  long  continually  poked  at 
Aliguyen's  face  and  the  wound  to  wake  him  up. 
From  time  to  time  they  caught  the  grewsome  head 
by  the  hair  and  shook  it  violently,  shouting,  '  Who- 
oo-oo!  Aliguyen,  wake  up!  Open  your  eyes!  Look 
down  on  Kurug.  [Kurug  being  the  rancher  ia  from 
which  came  Aliguyen's  murderer.]  Take  his  father 
and  his  mother,  his  wife  and  his  children,  and  his 
first  cousins  and  his  second  cousins,  and  his  rela- 
tives by  marriage.  They  wanted  him  to  kill  you. 
All  your  kin  are  women.  [They  say  this  in  order 
to  deceive  Aliguyen  into  avenging  himself.]  They 
can't  avenge  you.  You  will  have  to  avenge  your- 
self! There  is  or  den  [law];  no  one  can  kill  them 
but  you!  Take  them'  all! 


130         The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

"This  calling  on  Aliguyen's  soul  never  ceased. 
When  an  old  woman  got  hoarse,  another  took  her 
place.  As  the  procession  came  to  the  house  it 
filed  past  Aliguyen  and  its  leaders  stopped  and 
shouted  words  to  the  same  effect.  The  key-note 
of  the  whole  ceremony  was  vengeance.  It  is  true 
that  both  persons  who  were  involved  in  killing  Ali- 
guyen were  themselves  killed,  but  the  people  of  a 
ranckeria  regard  themselves  as  being  about  the  only 
real  people  in  the  world  and  hold  that  three,  four, 
or  five  men  of  another  rancheria  are  not  equal  to 
one  of  theirs. 

"Nagukaran  being  the  rancheria  that  speared 
and  nearly  killed  my  predecessor.  Mr.  -  — ,  I 

explained  my  presence  to  the  people  there  by  say- 
ing that  the  soldier,  being  an  agent  of  our  Govern- 
ment, was  in  a  way  a  relative  of  mine.  The  ex- 
planation was  a  perfectly  natural  one  to  the  people, 
and  they  treated  me  with  the  greatest  courtesy  and 
helped  me  to  see  whatever  was  to  be  seen. 

"Toward  noon  they  told  me  that  they  were  go- 
ing to  perform  the  feast  which  looked  towards  se- 
curing vengeance  for  Aliguyen's  death.  They  went 
to  where  the  people  had  built  a  shed  to  protect 
them  from  the  sun's  fierce  rays  on  a  little  hillock 
some  distance  from  any  house.  Two  pigs  were  pro- 
vided there,  one  being  very  small.  Only  the  old 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.          131 

men  were  permitted  to  gather  around  the  pigs  and 
the  rice-wine  and  the  other  appurtenances  of  the 
feast.  The  feast  began  by  a  prayer  to  the  ancestors, 
followed  by  an  invocation  to  the  various  deities. 
The  most  interesting  and  the  principal  part  of  the 
feast  was  the  invocation  to  the  celestial  bodies,  who 
are  believed  to  be  the  deities  of  War  and  Justice. 
Manahaut  (The  Deceiver),  a  companion  of  the  Sun 
God,  was  first  invoked.  The  people  cried:  'Who- 
oo-oo!  Manahaut,  look  down!  Come  down  and 
drink  the  rice-wine  and  take  the  pig!  Don't  de- 
ceive us!  Deceive  our  enemies!  Take  them  into 
the  remotest  quarters  of  the  sky-world;  lock  them 
up  there  forever  so  that  they  may  not  return !  Ven- 
geance for  him  who  has  gone  before!'  Then  an 
old  man  put  his  hands  over  his  forehead  and  called : 
'Come  down,  Manahaut.'  Manahaut  came  and 
possessed  him,  causing  him  to  call  out :  '  Sa-ay !  sa-ay ! 
I  come  down  Manahaut;  I  drink  the  rice-wine;  I 
will  deceive  your  enemies,  but  I  will  not  deceive 
you.'  The  old  man,  possessed,  jumps  up  and,  with 
characteristic  Ifugao  dance  step,  dances  about  the 
rice-wine  jar  and  about  the  pig.  Quickly  follows 
him  a  feaster  who  has  called  Umalgo,  the  Spirit  of 
the  Sun,  and  was  possessed  by  him.  Manahaut 
dances  ahead  of  Umalgo  to  show  him  the  pig.  Umal- 
go seizes  a  spear,  dances  about  the  pig  two  or  three 


132         The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

times,  when  he  steps  over  to  it  and  with  a  thrust, 
seemingly  without  effort,  pierces  its  heart.  The 
blood  spurts  out  of  the  pig's  side  and  there  quickly 
follows  a  feaster  who  has  been  possessed  by  Umbulan, 
who  throws  himself  on  the  pig  and  drinks  its  blood. 
He  would  remain  there  forever,  say  the  people,  drink- 
ing the  pig's  blood,  were  it  not  that  one  of  the  Stars, 
his  son,  possesses  a  feaster,  causing  him  to  dance 
over  to  Umbulan,  catch  him  by  the  hair  and  lead  him 
from  the  pig.  Following  these  ceremonies,  there 
came  feasters  of  various  spirits  of  the  Stars  to  cut 
the  pig's  feet  and  his  head  off.  Then  comes  the 
cutting  up  of  the  pig  to  cook  in  the  pots.  The 
blood  that  has  settled  in  its  chest  is  carefully  caught ; 
it  is  used  to  smear  the  bangibang  and  the  jipag. 
The  jipag  are  interesting.  They  are  little  images 
of  two  or  three  of  the  deities  that  help  men  to  take 
heads.  The  images  are  of  wood  about  six  or  eight 
inches  high.  Sometimes  there  are  images  of  dogs 
also.  When  an  Ifugao  goes  on  a  head-hunting  ex- 
pedition, he  takes  the  images  in  his  head-basket, 
together  with  a  stone  to  make  the  enemy's  feet  heavy 
so  that  he  cannot  run  away,  and  a  little  wooden 
stick  in  representation  of  a  spear,  to  the  end  of 
which  is  attached  a  stone — this  to  make  the  enemy's 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.          135 

spear  strike  the  earth  so  that  it  might  not  strike 
him.* 

' '  As  the  pig  was  being  put  in  the  pot  to  be  cooked 
for  the  old  men  who  had  performed  the  feast,  some 
unmannerly  young  fellow  started  to  make  away 
with  one  piece  of  the  flesh.  Immediately  there  was 
a  scramble  which  was  joined  by  some  three  or  four 
hundred  Ifugaos  of  all  the  different  rancherias.  Then 
the  feasters  (I  think  there  were  about  one  thousand 
who  attended  the  feast)  leaped  for  their  spears  and 
shields.  The  people  who  had  come  from  Kiangan 
rushed  to  where  I  was  and  took  their  stand  in  front 
of  and  around  me,  and  told  me  to  stay  there  and 
that  they  would  protect  me  from  any  harm;  all 
of  which,  as  may  well  be  supposed,  produced  no 
trifling  amount  of  warmth  in  my  feelings  toward 
them.  Fortunately  nothing  came  of  the  scramble. 

"I  have  no  hesitancy  in  saying  that  two  or 
three  years  ago,  before  Governor  Gallman  had  per- 
formed his  excellent  and  truly  wonderful  work  among 
the  Ifugaos,  this  scramble  would  have  become  a 
fight  in  which  somebody  would  have  lost  his  life. 
That  such  a  thing  could  take  place  without  danger 
was  incomprehensible  to  the  old  women  of  Kiangan, 
who  doubtless  remembered  sons  or  husbands,  broth - 

*Gallman  says  they  also  carry  their  spears  point  down  to 
cause  the  enemy's  spears  to  miss. — C.  De  W .  W. 


136          The  Plead  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

ers  or  cousins,  who  had  lost  their  lives  in  such  an 
affair.  With  the  memory  of  these  old  times  in  their 
minds  they  caught  me  by  the  arms  and  by  the 
waist  and  said,  'Barton,  come  home;  we  don't  know 
the  mind  of  the  people;  they  are  likely  to  kill  you.' 
When  I  refused  to  miss  seeing  the  rest  of  the  feast, 
they  told  me  to  keep  my  revolver  ready. 

"Looking  back  on  this  incident,  I  am  sure  that 
I  was  in  little,  I  believe  no  danger,  but  must  give 
credit  to  my  Ifugao  boy  who  attended  me  in  having 
the  wisest  head  in  the  party.  This  boy  immedi- 
ately thought  of  my  horse,  which  was  picketed  near, 
and  ran  to  it,  taking  with  him  one  or  two  responsi- 
ble Kiangan  men  to  help  him  watch  and  defend  it. 
Had  he  not  done  so,  some  meat-hungry,  hot-headed 
Ifugao  might  easily  have  stuck  a  bolo  in  his  side 
during  the  scramble  and  its  confusion;  and  immedi- 
ately some  five  hundred  or  more  Ifugaos  would  have 
been  right  on  top  of  the  carcase,  hand-hacking  at 
it  with  their  long  war-knives,  and  it  would  probably 
have  been  impossible  ever  to  find  out  who  gave  the 
first  thrust. 

"The  old  men  who  had  performed  the  feast, 
after  things  had  'quieted  down  so^what,  began 
scolding  and  cursing  those  who  had  run  away  with 
the  meat.  Finally  they  managed  to  prevail  upon 
the  meat-snatchers  to  bring  back  three  small  pieces, 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.          137 

about  the  size  of  their  hands,  from  which /I  con- 
cluded that  Ifugao  is  a  language  which  is  admirably 
adapted  to  making  people  ashamed  of  themselves. 
For  I  knew  how  hungry  for  meat  these  Ifugao 
become. 

"Three  old  men  stuck  their  spears  in  a  piece  of 
meat  and  began  a  long  story  whose  text  was  the 
confusion  of  enemies  in  some  past  time.  At  the 
conclusion  of  each  story,  they  said:  'Not  there, 
but  here;  not  then,  but  now.'  By  a  sort  of  simple 
witchcraft,  the  mere  telling  of  these  stories  is  be- 
lieved to  secure  a  like  confusion  and  destruction  of 
the  enemies  of  the  present.  When  this  ceremony 
had  been  completed,  each  old  man  raised  his  spear 
quickly  and  so  was  enabled  to  secure  for  himself 
the  meat  impaled.  In  one  case,  one  of  the  old  men 
just  missed  ripping  open  the  abdomen  of  the  man 
who  stood  in  front. 

"The  feast  being  finished,  the  people  made  an 
attempt  to  assemble  by  rancher ias.  Then  they  filed 
along  the  trail  to  bury  Aliguyen.  Nagukaran  ran- 
cheria  took  the  lead.  As  the  procession  came  near 
the  grave  the  men  took  off  their  head-dresses  and 
strung  them  on  a  long  pole,  which  was  laid  across 
the  trail.  A  Nagukaran  rancher o  went  to  where 
Aliguyen  was  sitting  and  picked  him  up,  carried 
him  to  the  grave,  and  placed  him  in  a  sitting  pos- 


138          The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

ture  facing  Kurug,  the  rancheria  that  killed  him. 
Aliguyen  was  not  wrapped  in  a  death-blanket,  as 
corpses  usually  are.  His  body  was  neglected  in  or- 
der to  make  him  angry,  so  to  incite  him  to  vengeance. 
"The  grave  was  a  kind  of  sepulchre  dug  out 
of  a  bank.  It  was  walled  up  with  stones  after  Ali- 
guyen was  placed  in  it,  and  an  egg  thrown  against 
the  tomb,  whereupon  the  people  yelled:  ' Batna 
kana  okukulan  di  bujolmi  ud  Kurugf  ('So  may  it 
happen  to  our  enemies  at  Kurug!')  The  poles  on 
which  were  strung  the  head-dresses  were  taken  and 
hung  over  the  door  of  Aliguyen's  house.  After  this 
the  people  dispersed  to  their  homes.  On  the  way 
home  they  stopped  at  a  stream  and  washed  them- 
selves, praying  somewhat  as  follows:  'Wash,  Wa- 
ter, but  do  not  wash  away  our  lives,  our  pigs,  our 
chickens,  our  rice,  our  children.  Wash  away  death 
by  violence,  death  by  the  spear,  death  by  sickness. 
Wash  away  pests,  hunger,  and  crop-failure,  and  our 
enemies.  Wash  away  the  visits  of  the  Spear-bearing 
Nightcomer,  the  Mountain  Haunters,  the  Ghosts, 
the  Westcomers.  Wash  away  our  enemies.  Wash 
as  vengeance  for  him  who  has  gone  before. ' ' 


CHAPTER  XV. 


Visit  to  the  Silipan   Ifugaos  at  Andangle. — The   Ibilao   River. — 
Athletic  feat. — Rest-house  and  stable  at  Sabig. 

We  set  out  the  next  day,  May  3d,  at  dawn, 
our  destination  being  Andangle,  selected  as  a  ren- 
dezvous of  the  Silipan  Ifugaos,  another  branch  of 
the  great  tribe  under  Gallman's  domination.  And, 
to  my  great  regret,  we  here  parted  from  Connor, 
who  had  accompanied  us  thus  far,  but  now  had  to 
return  to  his  post  in  Nueva  Vizcaya.  I  have  the 
greatest  pleasure  in  acknowledging  here  his  many 
courtesies,  the  good  humor  and  patience  with  which 
he  answered  my  many  questions,  and  I  hated  to 
see  him  turn  back. 

The  trail  we  were  to  take  to-day  was  most  of 
it  new,  the  Silipan  Ifugaos  having  finished  it  but  a 
short  time  before  our  arrival.  We  rode  through  the 
reddening  dawn,  down  the  great  bastion  of  Kiangan, 
with  the  Ibilao  River,  far  below  us,  showing  now 
and  then  on  the  turn  of  a  spur,  till  at  last  it  un- 
covered so  much  of  its  length  as  lay  in  the  valley, 
and  disappearing  to  the  southeast  through  its  tre- 
mendous gates  of  rock.  For  the  everlasting  moun- 

139 


140         The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

tains,  narrowing  down  on  each  side,  as  though  to 
halt  the  impetuous  stream,  nevertheless  yield  it  pas- 
sage through  smooth,  vertical  walls  of  solid  rock,  a 
gate  never  closed,  nor  yet  ever  open.  It  would  have 
been  most  interesting  to  work  our  way  down  to  this 
example  of  Nature's  engineering,  but  we  had  to 
content  ourselves  with  a  look  from  afar,  and  soon 
the  trail  turned  sharply  to  the  left  and  shut  out  the 
view.  The  whole  valley  was  keen  that  morning 
with  its  fresh,  cool  air  and  sound  of  rushing  waters. 
It  was  a  happiness  to  be  alive,  up,  and  riding. 

In  about  half  an  hour  we  reached  the  right 
bank  of  the  river,  where  we  off-saddled,  crossing  by 
a  trolley  platform;  the  horses  were  swum  over,  and 
the  kit  carried  by  the  cargadores  on  their  heads. 
My  cargador  must  have  gone  down,  for  when  I  got 
my  gear  later  it  was  soaking  wet.  On  the  other  side 
we  began  to  climb,  and  sharply;  we  now  could 
look  back  on  Kiangan.  Rounding  the  nose  of  a 
gigantic,  buttress-like  spur,  covered  with  camote 
patches,  we  descended  to  a  small  affluent  of  the 
Ibilao,  where  we  halted  and  rested,  and,  crossing  it, 
again  began  to  climb,  the  trail  being  cut  out  of  the 
side  of  another  gigantic  spur.  At  last  we  reached  the 
top,  to  find  a  new  deep,  steep  valley  below  us,  and 
just  across,  only  a  few  parasangs  away,  Andangle. 
But  it  was  far  more  than  a  few  parasangs  by  the 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Xorthcrn  Luzon.          141 

trail,  for  we  had  to  go  completely  around  the  head 
of  the  valley,  mostly  on  the  same  contour.  An- 
dangle  itself  is  barely  more  than  a  name,  but  we 
found  here  a  house  of  bamboo  and  palm  fresh  built 
for  us,  tastefully  adorned  with  greens  and  plants, 
and  protected  by  anitos,  resembling  those  of  Kian- 
gan.  Like  nearly  all  the  other  places  visited  by  us,  it 
was  finely  situated,  the  mountains  we  had  just  rid- 
den through  forming  a  great  amphitheater  to  the 
north. 

Our  stay  here  was  uneventful.  There  is  really 
little  to  record  or  report.  This  branch  of  the 
Ifugaos  impressed  me  as  being  a  quieter*  lot  than 
the  people  we  had  just  left  and  apparently  fonder, 
if  possible,  of  speech-making.  For  speeches  went 
on  almost  without  intermission,  all  breathing  good- 
will and  declaring  the  intention  of  the  people  to 
behave  in  a  lawful  manner  and  promising  to  have 
done  with  killing  and  stealing. 

There  were  many  women  and  children,  the  chil- 
dren very  shy.  Of  weapons  there  were  none.  Dancing 

*As  a  matter  of  fact,  they  were  "the  terror  of  the  Spaniards"; 
they  "annihilated  an  entire  garrison  at  Payoan."  "exacted  a  heavy 
annual  toll  of  heads  from  the  people  of  Bagabag,  and 
made  the  main  trail  from  Nueva  Vizcaya  to  Isabela  so  dangerous 
that  three  strong  garrisons  were  constantly  maintained  on  it,  and 
people  were  not  allowed  to  travel  over  it  except 
under  military  escort,  and  even  so  were  often  attacked  and  killed." 
(Worcester,  The  National  Geographic  Magazine,  March,  1911.)  Gall- 
man's  mere  name  now  suffices  to  do  what  three  strong  Spanish 
garrisons  failed  to  do. 


142          The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

went  on  uninterruptedly  the  whole  day  and  night  of 
our  stay,  and  Cootes  and  I  had  to  dance  again. 
Only  we  had  now  arranged  to  simulate  a  boxing- 
match,  which  we  presented  to  the  beat  of  the  gansa, 
and  to  the  applause  of  our  gallery.  A  runner  came 
in  while  we  were  here,  carrying  a  note  in  a  cleft 
stick,  the  native  substitute  for  a  pocket.  In  dress 
and  appearance,  the  Andangle  people  differed  in  no 
wise  from  those  of  Kiangan.  Many  of  them,  how- 
ever, have  a  silver  jewel,  of  curious  and  original  de- 
sign, worn  chiefly  as  earring,  but  also  on  a  string 
around  the  neck.  Our  splendid  chief  at  Payawan 
also  wore  many  of  these  jewels,  but  his  were  of 
gold.  Mr.  Worcester  distributed  his  white  slips  to 
the  ever-eager  multitudes,  listened  to  reports,  and 
held  council  with  the  head  men;  the  people  were 
fed  with  rice  and  meat,  appeared  thoroughly  to 
enjoy  themselves,  and  so  the  time  passed. 

The  next  morning,  May  4th,  we  rode  off. 
Shortly  after  leaving,  we  came  suddenly  upon  a  par- 
ty apparently  wrangling  over  a  piece  of  meat,  at  a 
point  where  the  trail  was  crossed  by  a  small  stream, 
flowing  in  a  thin  sheet  over  a  smooth  face  of  rock, 
twenty  or  more  feet  high,  and  tilted  at  about  seventy 
degrees.  The  wranglers  took  alarm  on  our  approach 
and  scattered  in  all  directions.  One  of  them,  a  boy  of 
perhaps  sixteen,  ran  up  the  rock  just  described  at 


RICE  TERRACES  AT  BBNAWB. 


BODY  OF  A  YOUNG  IGOROT  GIRL  PREPARED  FOR  FUNERAL  CEREMONIES. 
The  woman  at  the  side  is  the  child's  mother. 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.          145 

full  speed  on  his  toes,  and  disappeared  in  the  bushes 
at  the  top.  Even  if  he  had  wished  to  use  his  hands, 
there  was  nothing  to  lay  hold  on.  If  I  had  not  seen 
it  performed  with  my  own  eyes,  I  should  have  de- 
clared the  feat  impossible :  I  mention  it  to  mark  the 
agility  and  strength  of  these  people.  Bear  in  mind 
that  this  youngster  ran  up,  that  the  rock  was  not  far 
from  the  vertical,  and  that  the  water-worn  face  was 
smooth  and  slippery.  The  thing  was  simply  amazing. 

We  stopped  again  at  our  rest-house  of  the  day 
before,  meeting  a  few  cabecillas,  who  showed  us, 
with  much  pride,  long  ebony  canes  with  silver  tops, 
and  inscriptions  showing  that  they  had  been  given 
by  the  Spanish  Sovereign  as  rewards  for  faithful 
service,  etc.  One  of  these  canes  had  been  given  by 
Maria  Cristina.  Others  produced,  from  bamboo 
tubes,  parchments  of  equally  royal  origin,  setting 
forth  in  grandiloquent  Spanish  the  confidence  re- 
posed by  the  Sovereign  in  such  and  such  a  cabecilla. 

This  day's  journey  was  without  incident  of  any 
sort.  But,  like  all  our  other  rides,  it  took  us  through 
country  that  beggars  one's  powers  of  description. 
We  rode  part  of  the  way  through  an  open  forest, 
many  of  whose  trees  were  of  great  height.  One  of 
these  had,  on  a  single  large  branch  thrust  out  from 
the  trunk  at  a  height  of  sixty  feet  or  so,  as  many 
bird's-nest  ferns  as  could  crowd  upon  it,  looking 


146         The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

comically  like  a  row  of  hens  roosting  for  the  night. 
From  the  ground,  about  fifteen  feet  from  the  root 
of  this  same  tree,  rose  a  single-stem  liana,  joining 
the  main  trunk  at  the  branch  just  mentioned;  to 
this  liana  a  huge  bird-nest  fern  had  attached  itself 
twenty  feet  or  more  above  the  ground,  completely 
surrounding  the  stem,  a  singular  sight. 

The  day  was  fine,  the  trail  good — like  all  the 
others  of  Gallman's  trails, — and  the  people  glad  to 
see  us.  From  time  to  time,  as  we  neared  Sabig,  we 
were  met  by  detachments,  each  with  gansas  and 
spears  and  our  flag,  and,  besides,  bubud  in  bamboo 
tubes;  for,  as  must  now  be  clear,  the  Ifugaos  are  a 
hospitable  and  courteous  people,  and  we  were  made 
welcome  wherever  we  went. 

At  about  three  we  reached  Sabig,  situated  on 
a  hog-back  between  the  trail  on  the  left  and  a  deep 
valley  on  the  right.  Here  the  people  had  built  us 
the  finest  rest-house  seen  on  the  trip.  For  this 
house  had  separate  rooms  all  opening  on  the  same 
front,  the  roof  being  continued  over  the  front  so  as 
to  form  a  sort  of  veranda,  under  which  a  bamboo 
table  had  been  set  up.  But,  as  though  this  were 
not  enough,  there  were  hanging-baskets  of  plants, 
bamboo  and  other  leaves  ornamenting  the  posts. 
Our  cattle  were  as  well  off  as  we,  having  a  real  stable 
with  separate  stalls.  Just  north  of  the  house,  where 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Xorthern  Luzon.          147 

the  ground  sloped,  a  platform  had  been  excavated 
for  dancing,  which  went  on  all  night.  There  was 
the  customary  distribution  of  slips  and  the  usual 
business  of  reports  and  interviews  with  the  head 
men.  Here  we  first  saw  the  rice-terraces  for  which 
these  mountain  people  are  justly  famous,  that  is, 
terraces  climbing  the  mountain-side.  But  of  weap- 
ons we  saw  none. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 


Change  in  aspect  of  country. — Mount  Amuyao  and  the  native 
legend  of  the  flood. — Rice-terraces. — Banawe. — Mr.  Worces- 
ter's first  visit  to  this  region. — Sports. — Absence  of  weapons. — 
Native  arts  and  crafts. 

We  pushed  on  next  morning  early  for  Banawe, 
the  capital  of  the  sub-province  of  Ifugao,  and  Gall- 
man's  headquarters.  The  cheers  of  our  late  hosts 
accompanied  us  as  we  entered  the  trail  and  began 
to  climb.  The  country  now  took  on  a  different 
aspect,  due  to  our  increasing  altitude.  The  valleys 
were  sharper  and  narrower,  and  so  of  the  peaks. 
From  time  to  time  we  could  see  the  proud  crest  of 
Amuyao  ahead  of  us.  Over  8,000  feet  high,  this 
mountain,  whose  name  means  "father  of  all  peaks," 
or  "father  of  mountains,"  is  the  Ararat  of  the 
Ifugaos.  Their  legend  has  it  that,  a  flood  over- 
coming the  land,  a  father  and  five  sons  took  refuge 
on  this  topmost  peak,  coming  down  with  the  waters 
as  they  fell.  They  even  have  their  Cain,  for  one 
of  these  five  was  killed  by  a  brother.  This  family 
traditionally  are  the  ancestors  of  all  the  mountain 
people. 

148 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.          149 

It  took  us  some  five  hours  to  ride  to  Banawe, 
through  a  country  of  imposing  beauty.  It  was  not 
that  we  were  in  the  presence  of  mighty  ranges  or 
peaks,  so  much  as  that  the  alternation  of  elevation 
with  depression  offered  a  bewildering  variety  of  as- 
pect. At  every  turn,  turns  as  unnumbered  this  day 
as  the  woes  of  Greece,  the  landscape  changed  its 
face.  No  sooner  had  one's  appreciation  become  ori- 
ented, than  it  had  to  give  way  to  the  necessity  of  a 
fresh  orientation.  Of  course  there  must  be  some 
orographic  system;  but  to  mark  it,  we  should  have 
had  to  fly  over  the  land.  To  us  on  the  trail  it  was 
not  evident,  mountain  shouldering  mountain,  and 
valley  swallowing  valley,  in  confusion.  And  where- 
ever  possible,  rice- terraces !  If  we  posit  the  strug- 
gle for  existence,  then  in  this  view  alone  these  Ifu- 
gaos,  and  other  highlanders  as  well,  are  a  gallant 
people.  Not  every  hillside  will  grow  rice;  if  the 
soil  be  good,  water  will  be  lacking;  or  else,  having 
water,  the  soil  is  poor.  But,  wherever  the  two  con- 
ditions are  combined,  there  will  one  find  the  slope 
terraced  to  the  top,  and  scientifically  terraced,  too, 
so  that  every  drop  of  water  shall  do  its  duty  from 
top-side  to  bottom-side.  The  labor  of  original  con- 
struction, always  severe,  in  some  cases  must  have 
been  enormous,  as  we  shall  see  later.  Many  of 
these  terraces  are  hundreds  of  years  old;  their 


150          The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

maintenance  has  required  and  continues  to  require 
constant  watchfulness.  Nearly  every  year  the  sup- 
ply of  rice  runs  short  and  the  people  fall  back  on 
camotes  (sweet  potatoes).  And  yet,  in  marked  con- 
trast with  their  cousins  of  the  plains,  whom  these 
conditions  would  drive  to  helpless  despair,  we  heard 
on  this  trip  not  one  word  of  complaint.  Not  once 
did  they  put  up  a  poor  mouth  and  beg  the  Govern- 
ment to  come  to  their  help.  On  the  contrary,  they 
were  cheerful  throughout,  knowing  though  they  did 
that  before  the  year  was  over  they  would  probably 
all  have  to  pull  their  gee-strings  in  a  little  tighter. 
It  is  not  too  much,  therefore,  to  say  that  these 
highlanders  are  in  a  true  sense  a  gallant  people. 
Indeed,  they  are  the  best  people  of  the  Archipelago, 
and  with  any  sort  of  chance  they  will  prove  it. 
This  chance  our  Government,  thanks  to  Mr.  Wor- 
cester's initiative  and  sustained  interest,  is  giving 
them,  the  first  and  only  one  they  ever  have  had. 

This  digression  brings  us  a  little  nearer  to  Ba- 
nawe;  we  leave  the  terraced  hills  behind  us,  after 
noting  how  free  of  all  plants  the  retaining-walls  are 
kept,  the  sole  exception  here  and  there  being  the 
dongola,  with  its  brilliant  leaf  of  lustrous  scarlet. 

In  time  we  began  to  descend,  and  finally  there 
burst  on  the  view  the  sharpest  valley  yet,  as  though 
some  Almighty  Power  had  split  the  mountains  apart 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.         151 

with  a  titanic  ax.  Down  one  flank  we  went  with  Ba- 
nawe  near  the  head,  but  farther  off  than  we  thought, 
because  the  trail  was  now  filled  with  men  that  had 
come  out  to  welcome  us,  all  of  whom  insisted  on 
shaking  hands  with  all  the  apos.  Our  last  three 
miles  were  a  triumphal  procession — columns,  gan- 
sas,  bubud,  spears,  shouts,  escorts,  flags.  Every  now 
and  then  a  halt;  a  bamboo  filled  with  bubud  would 
be  handed  up,  and  everybody  had  to  take  a  pull. 
Once  I  noticed  Gallman  in  front  hastily  return  the 
bamboo,  and  reach  desperately  for  his  water-bottle; 
the  next  man  did  the  same  thing.  It  was  now  my 
turn,  and  I  understood;  I  tipped  up  the  tube,  and 
thought  for  the  moment  that  I  had  filled  my  mouth 
with  liquid  fire,  so  hot  was  the  stuff!  If  there  had 
ever  been  any  rice  in  the  original  composition,  it 
had  completely  lost  its  identity  in  the  fearful  excess 
of  pepper  that  characterized  this  particular  vintage. 
It  was  hours  and  hours  before  our  throats  forgave  us. 
But  at  last  we  threaded  our  way  down,  and, 
turning  sharp  to  the  right,  rode  out  on  the  small 
plateau  that  is  B  ana  we,  to  be  saluted  and  escorted 
by  the  Constabulary  Guard  and  to  be  received  by 
the  shouts  of  thousands.  They  at  once  opened  on 
us  with  speeches,  but  these  were  markedly  fewer 
here  than  farther  south.  The  quarters  of  the  Con- 
stabulary officers  were  hospitably  put  at  our  dis- 


152          The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon, 

position,  and  our  first  enjoyment  of  them  was  the 
splendid  shower. 

Banawe  stands  at  the  head  of  a  very  deep  val- 
ley, shut  in  by  mountains  on  three  sides ;  the  stream 
sweeping  the  base  of  the  plateau  breaks  through  on 
the  south.  This  plateau  rises  sharply  from  the  floor 
of  the  valley;  in  fact,  it  is  a  tongue  thrust  out  by  the 
neighboring  mountain,  and  forms  a  position  of  great 
natural  strength  against  any  enemy  unprovided  with 
firearms.  Across  the  stream  on  the  east  mount  the 
rice-terraces  over  a  thousand  feet  above  the  level  of 
the  stream;  a  stupendous  piece  of  work,  surpassed 
at  only  one  or  two  other  places  in  Luzon.  Else- 
where we  saw  terraces  higher  up,  but  none  on  so  great 
a  scale,  so  completely  enlacing  the  slope  from  base 
to  crest.  The  retaining- walls  here  are  all  of  stone > 
brought  up  by  hand  from  the  stream  below.  This 
stream  makes  its  way  down  to  the  Mayoyao  coun- 
try, and  I  was  told  that  the  entire  valley,  thirty  - 
five  or  forty  miles,  was  a  continuity  of  terraces. 
Indeed,  it  requires  some  time  and  reflection  to  real- 
ize how  splendid  this  piece  of  work  is:  it  is  almost 
^overwhelming  to  think  what  these  people  have  done 
to  get  their  daily  bread.  In  contemplation  of  their 
successful  labors,  one  is  justified  in  believing  that, 
if  given  a  chance,  they  will  yet  count,  and  that 
heavily,  in  the  destinies  of  the  Archipelago. 


154 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.          155 

Banawe  was  first  visited  by  Mr.  Worcester  in 
1903,  coining  down  from  the  north  with  a  party  of 
Igorots.  At  the  head  of  the  pass  he  was  met  by 
an  armed  deputation  of  Ifugaos,  who  came  to  in- 
quire  the  purpose  of  his  visit.  Was  it  peace  or 
was  it  war?  He  could  have  either!  But  he  must 
decide,  and  immediately.  Assured  as  to  the  nature 
of  the  visit,  the  head  man  then  gave  Mr.  Worces- 
ter a  white  rooster,  symbol  of  peace  and  amity,  and 
escorted  him  in.  But  the  accompanying  Igorots 
came  very  near  undoing  all  of  Mr.  Worcester's 
plans.  Not  only  were  they  shut  in  during  their 
stay,  an  obvious  and  necessary  condition  of  good 
order  and  the  preservation  of  peace,  but,  on  Mr. 
Worcester's  asking  food  for  them,  they  were  told 
they  could  have  camotes,  but  no  rice ;  that  rice  was 
the  food  of  men  and  warriors,  and  camotes  that  of 
women  and  children,  and  that  the  Igorots  were  not 
men.  This  almost  upset  the  apple-cart,  for  the 
Igorots  in  a  rage  at  once  demanded  to  be  released 
from  their  confinement  so  as  to  show  these  Ifugaos 
who  were  the  real  men.  But  counsels  of  peace  pre- 
vailed. In  fact,  it  is  a  matter  of  astonishment  that 
Mr.  Worcester  should  be  alive  to-day,  so  great  at 
the  outset  was  the  danger  of  personal  communication 


156         The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

with  the  wild  men  of  Luzon.*  It  was  not  always  a 
handsome  white  rooster,  in  token  of  peace,  that  was 
handed  him;  sometimes  spears  were  thrown  instead. 
However,  on  this  trip  of  ours  he  got  a  whole  poultry- 
yard  of  chickens,  besides  eggs  in  every  stage  of  de- 
velopment from  new-laid  to  that  in  which  one  could 
almost  feel  the  pin-feathers  sticking  through  the 
shell. 

We  spent  two  days  here,  and  over  10,000  peo- 
ple were  collected ;  some  of  them  apparently  showed 
traces  of  Japanese  blood.  Gallman  allowed  me  to 
make  an  inspection  of  his  Constabulary,  their  quar- 
ters and  hospital.  The  men  were  as  fine  and  as 
well  set-up  as  those  we  saw  at  Kiangan.  Everything 
was  in  immaculate  condition,  and  ready  for  serv- 
ice. From  the  circumstance  of  this  inspection,  I 
could  not  afterward  pass  near  the  cuartel  that  the 
guard  was  not  turned  out  for  "the  General" — a 
fact  amusing  to  me,  but  which  I  carefully  concealed 
from  the  other  members  of  the  party.  During  these 
two  days,  nights  too,  the  gansas  never  stopped, 
neither  did  the  dancing.  Mr.  Worcester  distributed 
thousands  of  paper  slips,  and,  besides,  much  serious 
business  was  dispatched.  Then  we  had  sports  and 

*This  danger  still  exists  in  the  case  of  the  savages  of  the 
Southern  Islands  of  the  Archipelago,  but  Mr.  Worcester,  if  un- 
disturbed, will  bring  these  in  too,  all  in  time.  In  the  fall  of  this 
very  year,  1910,  his  party  was  attacked  in  Palawan. 


The  Head  Hunters  of  \orthern  L,uzon.          157 

ceremonial  formal  dances,  much  like  those  we  saw 
at  Kiangan,  but  better  done.  There  was  the  same 
slow  advance  with  shields,  the  same  sacrifice  of  a 
pig — only  this  one  was  not  speared,  but  had  his 
insides  mixed  with  a  stick.  He  proved  obstinate, 
however,  and  refused  to  die,  so  a  man  sat  down  on 
the  ground,  put  his  thumbs  on  the  victim's  throat, 
and  choked  him  to  death.  Before  that  the  usual 
lances  had  been  laid  across  his  body,  and  some 
bubud  poured  (judiciously,  not  extravagantly)  on 
him  as  a  libation.  This  was  a  head-dance,  the 
taken  head  being  simulated  by  a  ball  of  fern-tree 
pith  stuck  on  a  spear  fixed  in  the  ground. 

But  these  formal  dances  were  not  the  only  ones. 
Everybody  danced,  even  Cootes  and  I  again;  but 
it  was  our  last  time.  People  kept  on  arriving  from 
miles  around,  columns  in  single  file,  headed  by  men 
bearing  bubud- jars  on  their  heads.  Every  party, 
of  course,  brought  its  gansas,  and  had  to  give  an 
exhibition  of  dancing  on  the  parade.  The  arrival 
of  the  Mayoyao  people  on  the  6th  really  made  a 
picture,  because  we  could  see  the  trail  for  a  long 
distance,  occupied  by  men  and  women  in  single 
file,  headed  by  Mr.  Dorsey,  of  the  Constabulary, 
on  his  pony.  What  with  the  6w6wd-bearers,  the 
bright  blue  skirts  of  the  women  (color  affected  by 
these  rancherias) ,  and  the  cadence  of  the  gansas  to 


158         The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

which  they  marched,  it  was  a  good  sight,  received 
with  cheers.* 

In  general,  but  few  parties  were  armed;  and, 
as  elsewhere,  there  were  no  old  women.  Some  of 
the  shyer  people,  coming  from  afar,  had  brought  their 
spears,  and,  squatted  on  the  slopes  round  about, 
apparently  passed  their  time  in  silent  contemplation 
of  the  great  game  going  on  below.  Everybody 
seemed  to  be  in  a  good  humor.  This  was  especially 
manifest  in  the  great  wrestling-match  that  took 
place  on  the  afternoon  of  the  6th,  when  rancheria 
after  rancheria  sent  up  its  best  man  to  compete  for 
the  heads  of  the  carabaos  that  had  furnished  meat 
for  the  multitude.  The  wrestling  itself  was  excel- 
lent. The  hold  is  taken  with  both  hands  on  the 
gee-string  in  the  small  of  the  back;  and,  as  all  these 
men  have  strong  and  powerful  legs,  the  events  were 
hotly  contested  and  never  completed  without  a  des- 
perate struggle.  Defeat  was  invariably  accepted  in  a 
good  spirit.  As  before  remarked,  however,  when  Mr. 
Worcester  first  organized  these  meetings,  the  ran- 
cherias  came  together  armed  to  the  teeth.  Each 
would  stick  its  spears  in  the  ground,  with  shields 

*Many  years  ago  some  Moros  were  brought  to  Mayoyao  to  work 
tobacco.  The  Ifugaos  deeply  resenting  this  invasion,  at  the  first 
opportunity  attacked  and  killed  them  all.  Only  one  woman  es- 
caped, covered  with  wounds,  to  Echagiie,  where  she  was  in  1910, 
still  alive.  The  fight  was  most  desperate,  three  Ifugaos  biting  the 
dust  for  every  Moro  killed. 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.          159 

leaning  on  them,  and  then  wait  for  developments. 
Suspicion,  hostility,  defiance  were  the  rule,  and  hos- 
tile collisions  were  more  than  once  only  narrowly 
averted.  But  on  these  occasions  the  native  Con- 
stabulary proved  its  worth,  by  circulating  in  the 
crowd,  separating  parties,  and  so  asserting  the  au- 
thority of  the  Government  in  favor  of  good  order. 
Moreover,  the  highlanders  soon  learned  to  respect 
the  power  of  ''the  spear  that  shoots  six  times" 
(the  Krag  magazine  rifle,  with  which  our  Constabu- 
lary is  armed) ;  but  it  can  not  be  repeated  too  often 
that  our  hold  on  these  people  is  due  almost  entirely 
to  the  moral  agencies  we  have  employed. 

Gradually  Mr.  Worcester  satisfied  some  ran- 
cherias,  at  least,  that  had  been  open  enemies  for 
generations,  whose  men,  in  Mr.  Worcester's  graphic 
expression,  had  never  seen  one  another  except  over 
the  tops  of  their  shields,  that  nothing  was  to  be 
gained  in  the  long  run  by  this  secular  warfare;  and 
his  purpose  in  bringing  the  clans  together  is  to 
make  them  know  one  another  on  peaceful  terms, 
to  show  them  that  if  rivalry  exists,  it  can  find  a 
vent  in  wrestling,  racing,  throwing  the  spear,  in 
sports  generally.  And  they  take  naturally  to  sports, 
these  highlanders.  Success  has  crowned  Mr.  Wor- 
cester's efforts;  in  witness  whereof  this  very  con- 
course of  B  ana  we  may  be  cited,  where  over  10,000 


160         The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

persons,  mostly  unarmed,  mingled  freely  with  one 
another  without  so  much  as  a  brawl  to  disturb 
the  peace. 

Two  years  ago  people  would  not  go  to  Mayoyao 
from  Banawe,  through  their  own  country,  save  in 
armed  groups  of  ten  to  twelve;  now  women  go 
alone  in  safety.  And  it  is  a  significant  fact  that 
the  Ifugaos  are  increasing  in  numbers.  Of  course, 
this  particular  sub -province  is  fortunate  in  having 
as  its  governor  a  man  of  Gallman's  stamp.  But 
it  is  generally  true  that  village  warfare  is  decreas- 
ing, and  that  travel  between  villages  is  increasing. 
These  Ifugaos  ten  years  ago  had  the  reputation, 
and  deserved  it,  of  being  the  fiercest  head-hunters 
of  Luzon.  Gallman  has  tamed  them  so  that  to-day 
they  have  abandoned  the  taking  of  heads.  Now 
what  has  been  done  with  them  can  be  done  with 
others. 

At  Banawe  we  saw  more  examples  of  native 
arts  and  crafts  than  we  had  heretofore.  For  ex- 
ample, the  pipe  is  smoked,  and  we  saw  some  curious 
specimens  in  brass,  much  decorated  with  pendent 
chains;  others  were  of  wood,  some  double-bowled 
on  the  same  stem.  Some  of  the  men  wore  helmets, 
or  skull-caps,  cut  out  of  a  single  piece  of  wood. 
Other  carved  objects  were  statuettes,  sitting  and 
standing;  these  are  anitos,  frequently  buried  in  the 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.          161 

rice-paddies  to  make  the  crop  good;  besides,  there 
were  wooden  spoons  with  human  figures  for  handles, 
the  bowls  being  symmetrical  and  well  finished.  Then 
there  were  rice-bowls,  double  and  single,  some  of 
them  stained  black  and  varnished.  Excellent  bas- 
kets were  seen,  so  solidly  and  strongly  made  of 
bejuco  as  to  be  well-nigh  indestructible  under  ordi- 
nary conditions.  Mr.  Maimban  got  me  a  pair  of 
defensive  spears  (so-called  because  never  thrown, 
but  used  at  close  quarters)  with  hollow  -  ground 
blades  of  tempered  steel,  the  head  of  the  shaft  being 
wrapped  with  bejuco,  ornamentally  stained  and  put 
on  in  geometrical  patterns. 

Our  officials  regarded  this  great  meeting  as  en- 
tirely satisfactory.  We  made  ready  for  an  early 
start  the  next  morning,  saying  good-bye  to  Browne, 
who  had  accompanied  us  from  Bayombong,  and  who 
had  shown  me  personally  many  courtesies.  His  last 
act  of  kindness  was  to  take  back  with  him  the  va- 
rious things  I  had  got  together,  and  later  to  send 
tbem  on  to  me  at  Manila.  Our  column  was  to  be 
increased  by  a  party  of  Ifugaos,  whom,  with  a  head 
man  named  Comhit,  Gallman  wished  to  take  through 
the  Bontok  into  the  Kalinga  country.  The  fact  that 
these  men  returned  safely  unaccompanied  by  Gall- 
man or  any  other  American  is  the  best  possible  proof 
of  the  positive  results  already  achieved  by  our  Gov- 
ernment in  civilizing  the  highlanders. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 


We  ride  to  Bontok.— Bat-nets. — Character  of  the  country. — Am- 
bawan. — Difficulties  of  the  trail. — Bird-scarers. — Talubin. — 
Bishop  Carroll  of  Vigan. — We  reach  Bontok.— "The  Star- 
Spangled  Banner."— Appearance  of  the  Bontok  Igorot. — 
Incidents. 

From  Banawe  we  rode  to  Bontok,  thirty-five 
miles,  in  one  day,  May  yth.  This  day  it  rained, 
the  only  rain  we  had  during  the  whole  trip,  although 
the  season  was  now  on.  But  the  disturbance  in 
question  was  due  to  a  typhoon  far  to  the  southward ; 
and  as  it  passed  off  into  the  China  Sea,  so  did  the 
day  finally  clear.  Our  first  business  this  morning 
was  to  cross  the  pass  on  Polis  Mountain,  some  6,400 
feet  above  sea-level,  the  highest  elevation  we  reached. 
As  we  rode  out  of  Banawe  we  could  see  on  the 
wooded  sky-line  to  our  right  front  a  cut  as  though 
of  a  road  through  the  forest;  it  was  not  a  road,  of 
course,  but  an  opening  normal  to  the  crest  of  the 
ridge.  Across  this  a  net  is  stretched,  and  the  bats, 
flying  in  swarms  by  night  to  clear  the  top,  drop 
into  the  cut  on  reaching  it,  and  so  are  caught  in 
the  net  in  flying  across.  We  saw  several  such  bat- 
traps  during  our  trip.  In  this  way  these  highland- 

162 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Xorthcni  Luzon.          165 

ers  eke  out  their  meager  supply  of  meat.  The  bat 
in  question  is  not  the  animal  we  are  familiar  with, 
but  the  immensely  larger  fruit  bat,  the  flesh  of 
which  is  readily  eaten.  Our  trail  took  us  up,  and 
sharply;  by  nine  o'clock  we  had  crowned  the  pass, 
and  stopped  for  chow  and  rest.  In  front  of  us,  as 
we  looked  back,  plunged  the  deepest,  sharpest  val- 
ley yet  seen,  around  the  head  of  which  we  had 
ridden  and  across  which  we  could  look  down  on  the 
Ifugao  country  we  had  just  come  from;  down  one 
side  and  up  the  other  could  be  traced  the  remains 
of  the  old  Spanish  trail,  a  miracle  of  stupidity.  To 
the  right  (west),  but  out  of  sight,  lay  Sapao,  where 
the  rice-terraces  have  received  their  greatest  develop- 
ment, rising  from  the  valley  we  were  gazing  into 
some  3,000  feet  up  the  slope.  Sapao,  too,  is  the 
seat  of  the  Ifugao  steel  industry,  so  that  for  many 
reasons  I  was  sorry  it  was  off  our  itinerary.  The 
point  where  we  were  resting  has  some  interest  from 
its  associations,  for  our  troops  reached  it  in  their 
pursuit  of  Aguinaldo,  at  the  end  of  a  long  day  of 
rain,  and  had  to  spend  the  night  without  food  or 
fire  or  sleep.  It  was  not  possible  to  light  a  pipe 
even,  a  noche  triste  indeed.  Most  of  the  men  stood 
up  all  night,  this  being  better  than  lying  down  in 
the  mud;  to  march  on  was  impossible,  as  the  coun- 
try was  then  trailless,  except  for  the  Spanish  trail 


1 66         The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

mentioned,  to  attempt  which  by  night  would  have 
been  suicide.  A  tropical  forest  can  be  pretty  dreary 
in  bad  weather,  almost  as  dreary  as  a  Florida  cypress 
swamp  on  a  rainy  Sunday. 

We  now  made  on,  having  crossed  into  Bontok 
sub-province,  and  by  midday  had  reached  a  point 
on  the  trail  above  an  Igorot  village  called  Ambawan. 
Here  we  were  met  by  a  number  of  the  officials  of 
the  province,  who  gave  us  a  sumptuous  tiffin  in  the 
rest-house.  And  here,  too,  we  bought  a  number  of 
baskets  made  in  Ambawan,  graceful  of  design  and 
well- woven,  though  small.  Governor  Evans  offered 
an  escort  of  Constabulary  through  the  next  village, 
Talubin,  the  temper  of  its  inhabitants  being  un- 
certain, but  Mr.  Forbes  declined  it,  and  ordered 
the  escort  sent  back.  We  were  riding  as  men  of 
peace,  determined  to  mark  our  confidence  in  the 
good  intentions  and  behavior  of  the  various  ran- 
cher ias  we  passed  through. 

Immediately  on  leaving  Ambawan,  we  had  to 
drop  from  the  new  trail  (ours)  to  the  old  Spanish  one 
for  a  short  distance,  for  our  trail  had  run  plump  upon 
a  rock,  waiting  before  removal  for  a  little  money  to 
buy  dynamite  with.  Having  turned  the  rock,  the 
climb  back  to  the  new  trail  proved  to  be  quite  a  seri- 
ous affair,  as  such  things  go,  the  path  being  so  steep 
and  so  filled  with  loose  sand  and  gravel  clattering 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.          167 

down  the  slope  at  each  step  that  only  one  man 
leading  his  horse  was  allowed  on  it  at  a  time,  the 
next  man  not  starting  till  his  predecessor  was  well 
clear  at  the  top.  A  loss  of  footing  meant  a  tumble 
to  the  bottom,  a  matter  of  concern  if  we  had  all 
been  on  the  path  together.  But  finally  we  all  got 
up  and  moved  on,  this  time  over  the  narrowest 
trail  yet  seen,  a  good  part  of  the  way  not  more  than 
eighteen  or  twenty  inches  wide,  with  a  smooth,  bare 
slope  of  sixty  to  eighty  degrees  on  the  drop  side, 
and  the  bottom  of  the  valley  one  thousand  to  fif- 
teen hundred  feet  or  more  below  us.  Many  of  us 
dismounted  and  walked,  leading  our  horses  for  miles. 
With  us  went  an  Igorot  guide  or  policeman,  who 
carried  a  spear  in  one  hand,  and,  although  naked, 
held  an  umbrella  over  his  head  with  the  other, 
and  a  civilized  umbrella  too,  no  native  thing.  How- 
ever, it  must  be  admitted  that  it  was  raining. 

The  mists  prevented  any  general  view  of  the 
country;  as  a  matter  of  fact,  we  were  at  such  an 
elevation  as  to  be  riding  in  the  clouds,  which  had 
come  down  by  reason  of  the  rain.  However,  the 
valleys  below  us  were  occasionally  in  plain  enough 
sight,  showing  some  cultivation  here  and  there,  rice 
and  camotes,  the  latter  occasionally  in  queer  spiral 
beds.  The  bird-scarers,  too,  were  ingenious:  a  board 
hung  by  a  cord  from  another  cord  stretched  between 


1 68          'fhe  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

two  long  and  highly  flexible  bamboos  on  opposite 
banks  of  a  stream,  would  be  carried  down  by  the  cur- 
rent until  the  tension  of  its  cord  became  greater  than 
the  thrust  of  the  stream,  when  it  would  fly  back  and 
thus  cause  the  bamboo  poles  to  shake.  This  motion 
was  repeated  without  end,  and  communicated  by 
other  cords  suitably  attached  to  other  bamboo  poles 
set  here  and  there  in  the  adjacent  rice-paddy.  From 
these  hung  rough  representations  of  birds,  and  a 
system  was  thus  provided  in  a  state  of  continous 
agitation  over  the  area,  frequently  of  many  acres, 
to  be  protected.  The  idea  is  simple  and  efficacious. 
This  long  stretch  terminated  in  a  land-slide 
leading  down  into  the  dry,  rocky  bed  of  a  mountain 
stream.  At  the  head  of  the  slide  we  turned  our 
mounts  loose,  and  all  got  down  as  best  we  could,  ex- 
cept Mr.  Forbes,  who  rode  down  in  state  on  his  cow- 
pony.  Once  over,  we  crossed  a  village  along  the 
edge  of  a  rice-terrace,  in  which  our  horses  sank 
almost  up  to  their  knees.  As  the  wall  was  fully 
fifteen  feet  high,  a  fall  here  into  the  paddy  below 
would  have  been  most  serious;  it  would  have  been 
almost  impossible  to  get  one's  horse  out.  However, 
all  things  come  to  an  end;  we  crossed  the  stream 
below  by  a  bridge,  one  at  a  time  (for  the  bridge  was 
uncertain),  and  found  ourselves  in  Talubin,  where  we 
were  warmly  greeted  by  Bishop  Carroll  of  Vigan  and 


s  . 
§5 


wg 

is 
s 


-    bfl 

H 


BONTOK  IGOROT  WOMAN. 
Showing  method  of  stretching  lobe  of  ear. 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.          171 

some  of  his  priests.  The  Bishop,  who  was  making 
the  rounds  of  his  diocese,  had  only  a  few  days  be- 
fore fallen  off  the  very  trail  we  had  just  come  over, 
and  rolled  down,  pony  and  all,  nearly  two  hundred 
feet,  a  lucky  bush  catching  him  before  he  had  gone 
the  remaining  fourteen  hundred  or  fifteen  hundred. 
Talubin  somehow  bears  a  poor  reputation;  its 
inhabitants  have  a  villainous  look,  owing,  no  doubt, 
in  part  to  their  being  as  black  and  dirty  as  coal- 
heavers.  This  in  turn  is  due  to  the  habit  of  sleep- 
ing in  closed  huts  without  a  single  exit  for  the  smoke 
of  the  fire  these  people  invariably  make  at  night, 
their  cook-fire  probably,  for  they  cook  in  their  huts. 
However  this  may  be,  the  people  of  this  rancher ia 
showed  neither  pleasure  nor  curiosity  on  seeing  us, 
and  I  noticed  that  a  Constabulary  guard  was  present, 
patrolling  up  and  down,  as  it  were,  with  bayonets 
fixed  and  never  taking  their  eyes  off  the  natives 
that  appeared.  These  Igorots  lacked  the  cheerful- 
ness and  openness  of  our  recent  friends,  the  Ifugaos. 
Their  houses  were  not  so  good,  built  on  the  ground 
itself,  and  soot-black  inside.  The  whole  village  was 
dirty  and  gloomy  and  depressing,  and  yet  it  stands 
on  the  bank  of  a  clean,  cheerful  stream.  However, 
the  inevitable  gansas  were  here,  but  silent;  one 
of  them  tied  by  its  string  to  a  human  jaw-bone  as 
a  handle.  This,  it  seems,  is  the  fashionable  and 


172          The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

correct  way  to  carry  a  gansa.  At  Talubin  the  sun 
came  out,  and  so  did  some  bottles  of  excellent  red 
wine  which  the  Bishop  and  his  priests  were  kind 
enough  to  give  us.  But  we  did  not  tarry  long,  for 
Bontok  was  still  some  miles  away.  So  we  said 
good-bye  to  the  Bishop  and  his  staff  and  continued 
on  our  way.  The  country  changed  its  aspect  on 
leaving  Talubin:  the  hills  are  lower  and  more 
rounded,  and  many  pines  appeared.  The  trail  was 
decidedly  better,  but  turned  and  twisted  right  and 
left,  up  and  down.  The  country  began  to  take  on 
an  air  of  civilization — why  not?  We  were  nearing 
the  provincial  capital ;  some  paddies  and  fields  were 
even  fenced.  At  last,  it  being  now  nearly  five  of 
the  afternoon,  we  struck  a  longish  descent;  at  its 
foot  was  a  broad  stream,  on  the  other  side  of  which 
we  could  see  Bontok,  with  apparently  the  whole  of 
its  population  gathered  on  the  bank  to  receive  us. 
And  so  it  was:  the  grown-ups  farther  back,  with 
marshalled  throngs  of  children  on  the  margin  itself. 
As  we  drew  near,  these  began  to  sing ;  while  fording, 
the  strains  sounded  familiar,  and  for  cause:  as  we 
emerged;  the  "Star-Spangled  Banner"  burst  full 
upon  us,  the  shock  being  somewhat  tempered  by 
the  gansas  we  could  hear  a  little  ahead.  We  rode 
past,  got  in,  and  went  to  our  several  quarters,  Gall- 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.          173 

man  and  I  to  Governor  Evans's  cool  and  comfortable 
bungalow. 

I  took  advantage  of  the  remaining  hour  or  so 
of  daylight  to  get  a  general  view  of  things.  One's 
first  impression  of  the  Bontok  Igorot  is  that  he  is 
violent  and  turbulent;  it  is  perhaps  more  correct 
to  say  that,  as  compared  with  the  Ifugao,  he  lacks 
discipline.  It  is  certain  that  he  is  taller,  without 
being  stronger  or  more  active  or  better  built;  in 
fact,  as  one  goes  north,  the  tribes  increase  in  height 
and  in  wildness.  The  women  share  in  the  qualities 
noted.  Both  men  and  women  were  all  over  the 
place,  and  much  vigorous  dancing  was  going  on. 
Using  the  same  gansa  as  the  Ifugao,  the  Igorot 
beats  it  on  the  convex  side  with  a  regular  padded 
drumstick,  whereas  the  Ifugao  uses  any  casual  stick 
on  the  concave  side.  Moreover,  the  Bontok  dancers 
went  around  their  circle,  beating  their  gansas  the 
while,  in  a  sort  of  lope,  the  step  being  vigorous,  long, 
easy,  and  high ;  as  in  all  the  other  dances  seen,  the 
motion  was  against  the  sun.  The  gansa  beat  seemed 
to  be  at  uniform  intervals,  all  full  notes.  While 
our  friends  the  Ifugaos  were,  on  the  whole,  a  quiet 
lot,  these  Bontok  people  seemed  to  be  fond  of  mak- 
ing a  noise,  of  shouting,  of  loud  laughter.  They 
appeared  to  be  continually  moving  about,  back  and 
forth,  restlessly  and  rapidly  as  though  excited.  On 


174          The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

the  whole,  the  impression  produced  by  these  people 
was  not  particularly  agreeable;  you  felt  that,  while 
you  might  like  the  Banawe,  you  would  always  be 
on  your  guard  against  the  Bontok.  But  it  must 
be  recollected  that  we  had  no  such  opportunity  to 
see  these  people  as  we  enjoyed  in  the  case  of  Banawe 
and  Andangle.  The  occasion  was  more  exciting; 
they  were  more  on  show.  It  is  not  maintained  that 
these  are  characteristics,  simply  that  they  appeared 
to  be  this  afternoon  and,  indeed,  during  the  remain- 
der of  our  stay. 

Individuals  appeared  to  be  friendly  enough, 
though  these  were  chiefly  the  older  men.  One  of 
them,  a  total  stranger  to  me,  came  up  and  intimated 
very  clearly  that  he  would  like  the  transfer  of  the 
cigar  I  was  smoking  from  my  lips  to  his.  In  a  case 
like  this,  it  is  certainly  more  blessed  to  give  than  to 
receive,  but  in  spite  of  this  Scriptural  view  of  the 
matter,  I  nevertheless  naturally  hesitated  to  be  the 
party  of  even  the  second  part  in  a  liberty  of  such 
magnitude,  and  on  such  short  acquaintance,  too. 
However  I  gave  him  the  cigar;  he  received  it  with 
graciousness.  I  found  now  that  I  must  give  cigars 
to  all  the  rest  standing  about,  and,  after  emptying 
my  pockets,  sent  for  two  boxes.  An  expectant  crowd 
had  in  the  meantime  collected  below,  for  we  were 
standing  on  the  upper  veranda  of  Government 


A  BONTOK  IGOROT  WARRIOR. 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Xorthern  Luzon.          177 

House,  and,  on  the  two  hundred  cigars  being  thrown 
out  to  them  all  at  one  time,  came  together  at  the 
point  of  fall  in  the  mightiest  rush  and  crush  of 
human  beings  I  ever  saw  in  my  life.  A  foot-ball 
scrimmage  under  the  old  rules  was  nothing  to  it. 
Very  few  cigars  came  out  unscathed,  but  the  scram- 
ble was  perfectly  good-humored. 

Of  weapons  there  was  almost  none  visible,  no 
shields  or  spears,  but  here  and  there  a  head-ax. 
The  usual  fashion  in  clothes  prevailed;  gee-string 
for  the  men,  and  short  sarong-like  skirt  for  the 
women.  Hair  was  worn  long,  many  men  gathering 
it  up  into  a  tiny  brimless  hat,  for  all  the  world  like 
Tommy  Atkins's  pill-box,  only  worn  squarely  on 
the  apex  of  the  skull,  and  held  on  by  a  string  passed 
through  the  hair  in  front.  In  this  hat  the  pipe  and 
tobacco  are  frequently  carried.  Many  of  these  hats 
are  beautifully  made,  and  decorated;  straw,  dyed 
of  various  colors,  being  combined  in  geometrical 
patterns.  Ordinary  ones  can  be  easily  got;  but, 
if  ornamented  with  beads  or  shell,  they  command 
very  high  prices,  one  hundred  and  fifty  pesos  or 
more.  Many  men  were  elaborately  tattooed,  the 
pattern  starting  well  down  the  chest  on  each  side 
and  running  up  around  the  front  of  the  shoulder 
and  part  way  down  the  arm.  If,  as  is  said,  this 
elaborate  tattoo  indicates  that  its  owner  has  killed 


178         The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

a  human  being,  then  Bontok  during  our  stay  was 
full  of  men  that  had  proved  their  valor  in  this  par- 
ticular way.  Earrings  were  very  common  in  both 
sexes;  frequently  the  lobe  was  distended  by  a  plug 
of  wood,  with  no  appreciable  effect  of  ornament, 
and  sometimes  even  torn  open.  In  that  case  the 
earring  would  be  held  on  by  a  string  over  the  ear. 
One  man  came  by  with  three  earrings  in  the  upper 
cartilage  of  each  ear,  one  above  the  other.  Still 
another  had  actually  succeeded  in  persuading  na- 
ture to  form  a  socket  of  gristle  just  in  front  of  each 
ear,  the  socket  being  in  relief  and  carrying  a  bunch 
of  feathers.  A  few  men  had  even  painted  their 
faces  scarlet  or  yellow.  No  one  seemed  to  know 
the  significance  of  this  habit  (commoner  farther 
north  than  at  Bontok),  but  the  paint  was  put  on 
much  after  the  fashion  prevailing  in  Manchuria, 
and,  if  possibly  for  the  same  reason,  certainly  with 
the  same  result.  The  pigment  or  color  comes  from 
a  wild  berry. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 


Importance  of  Bontok. — Head-taking. — Atonement  for  bloodshed. — 
Sports. — Slapping  game. 

Bontok  is  a  place  of  importance,  as  becomes  the 
capital  of  the  Mountain  Province.  Here  are  schools, 
both  secular  and  religious;  two  churches  in  build- 
ing (1910),  one  of  stone  (Protestant  Episcopal),  the 
other  of  brick  (Roman  Catholic),  each  with  its  priest 
n  residence ;  a  Constabulary  headquarters ;  a  brick- 
kiln, worked  by  Bontoks;  a  two-storied  brick  bouse, 
serving  temporarily  as  Government  House,  club  and 
assembly;  a  fine  provincial  Government  House  in 
building;  streets  laid  off  and  some  built  up,  these 
in  the  civilized  town.  This  list  is  not  to  be  smiled 
at;  a  beginning  has  been  made,  a  good  strong  be- 
ginning, full  of  hope,  if  the  unseen  elements  estab- 
lished and  forces  developed  are  given  a  fair  chance. 
The  place  was  important  before  we  came  in;  the 
native  part  is  ancient  and  has  a  municipal  organ- 
ization of  some  interest.  Spain  first  occupied  the 
place  in  1855  and  garrisoned  it  with  several  hun- 
dred Ilokanos  and  Tagalogs.  She  has  left  behind 


179 


i8o         The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

a  bad  name;  but  the  insurrectos  (Aguinaldo's  peo- 
ple), who  drove  the  Spaniards  out,  have  left  a  worse. 
Both  took  without  paying,  both  robbed  and  killed; 
the  insurrectos  added  lying. 

Some  four  hundred  Igorot  warriors  were  per- 
suaded by  the  insurrectos  to  join  in  resisting  the 
Americans  and  went  as  far  south  as  Caloocan  just 
north  of  Manila,  where,  armed  only  with  spears, 
axes,  and  shields,  they  took  their  place  in  line  of 
battle,  only  to  run  when  fire  was  opened.  Accord- 
ing to  their  own  story,*  which  they  relate  with  a 
good  deal  of  humor,  they  never  stopped  until  they 
reached  their  native  heath,  feeling  that  the  insur- 
rectos had  played  a  trick  on  them.  Accordingly, 
it  is  not  surprising  that  when  March  went  through 
Bontok  after  Aguinaldo,  the  Igorot  should  have 
befriended  him,  nor  later  that  the  way  should  have 
been  easy  for  us  when  we  came  in  to  stay,  about 
seven  or  eight  years  ago. 

The  site  is  attractive,  a  circular  dish-shaped 
valley,  about  a  mile  and  a  half  in  diameter,  bi- 
sected by  the  Riof  Chico  de  Cagayan,  with  moun- 
tains forming  a  scarp  all  around.  Bontok  stands 

*See  a  native  account  of  the  part  played  by  the  Igorots  in 
this  battle,  in  Seidenadel's  "The  First  Grammar  of  the  Language 
Spoken  by  the  Bontoc  Igorot";  Chicago,  Open  Court  Publishing 
Company,  1909. 

fSometimes  also  called  the  Caicayan. 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.          181 

on  the  left  bank,  and  Samoki*  on  the  right;  sep- 
arated only  by  a  river  easily  fordable  in  the  dry 
season,  these  two  Igorot  centers  manage  to  live  in 
tolerable  peace  with  each  other,  but  both  have  been 
steadily  hostile  to  Talubin,  only  two  hours  away. 
However,  it  can  not  be  too  often  said  that  this  sort 
of  hostility  is  diminishing,  and  perceptibly. 

We  spent  two  days  at  Bontok  very  quietly  and 
agreeably.  The  first  day,  the  8th,  was  Sunday,  and 
somehow  or  other  I  got  to  church  (Father  Clapp's, 
the  Protestant  Episcopal  missionary's)  only  in  time 
to  see  through  the  open  door  an  Igorot  boy,  stark 
naked  save  gee-string  and  a  little  open  coat,  pass- 
ing the  plate.  Father  Clapp  has  been  here  seven 
years,  has  compiled  a  Bontok- English  Dictionary, 
and  translated  the  Gospel  of  Saint  Mark  into  the 
vernacular.  As  already  said,  he  has  a  school,  a 
sort  of  hospital;  is  building  a  stone  church;  is  full 
of  his  work,  and  deserves  the  warmest  support. 
It  must  be  very  hard  to  get  at  what  is  going  on 
behind  the  eyes  of  his  native  parishioners.  For  ex- 
ample, shortly  before  our  arrival,  a  young  Igorot 
had  been  confirmed  by  Bishop  Brent.  Now  this 

*Samoki  is  celebrated  for  its  pottery,  sold  all  through  this 
region,  and  of  such  quality  that  the  Igorots  use  vessels  made  here 
to  reduce  copper  ore.  The  potter's  wheel  is  unknown.  In  regard 
to  the  skill  of  the  highlanders  in  metallurgy,  see  Jagor,  "Travels," 
p.  181. 


1 82          The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

boy  was  attending  school,  and  in  the  school  was 
another  boy  from  a  rancheria  that  had  taken  a  head 
from  the  rancheria  of  the  recent  convert.  When 
the  latter 's  people  learned  of  this,  they  sent  for 
their  boy,  the  recent  convert,  the  Monday  after 
confirmation,  held  a  canao  (killing  a  pig,  dancing, 
and  so  on),  and  sent  him  back  resolved  to  take 
vengeance  by  killing  the  boy  from  the  offending 
rancheria.  Accordingly,  on  Thursday,  at  night,  the 
victim-to-be  was  lured  behind  the  school-house  un- 
der the  pretext  of  getting  a  piece  of  meat,  and, 
while  his  attention  was  held  by  an  accomplice  with 
the  meat,  the  avenger  came  up  behind,  killed  him, 
and  was  about  to  take  his  head  when  people  came 
up  and  arrested  him.  This  case  illustrates  the  dif- 
ficulties to  be  met  in  civilizing  these  people.  Le- 
gally, under  our  view,  this  boy  was  a  murderer; 
under  his  own  customs  and  traditions,  he  had  done 
a  commendable  thing.  When  the  boys'  school  was 
first  opened,  they  used  to  take  their  spears  and 
shields  into  the  room  with  them;  this  proving  not 
only  troublesome,  but  dangerous,  their  arms  are 
now  taken  away  from  them  every  morning,  and 
returned  after  school  closes. 

Many  people  came  to  see  Governor  Evans  this 
day,  among  them  a  young  man  begging  for  the 
release  of  a  prisoner  held  for  murder.  He  really 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.          183 

could  not  see  why  the  man  should  not  be  set  free, 
and  sat  patiently  for  two  hours  on  his  haunches, 
every  now  and  then  holding  up  and  presenting  'a 
white  rooster,  which  he  was  offering  in  exchange. 
The  matter  was  not  one  for  discussion  at  all,  but 
Evans  was  as  patient  as  his  visitor,  paying  no  at- 
tention to   him   whatever.     Whenever  the  pleader 
could  catch  Evans's  eye,  up  would  go  the  rooster 
and  be  appealingly  held  out.     Only  two  or  three 
weeks  before,  a  private  of  Constabulary  had  shot 
and  killed  the  head  man  of  Tinglayan  some  miles 
north  of  Bontok.      He  was  arrested,  of  course,  and 
when  we  came  through  was  awaiting    trial.      But 
a  deputation  had  come  in  to  wait  on  Mr.  Forbes, 
and  ask  for  the  slayer,  so  that  they  might  kill  him 
in  turn,  with  proper  ceremonies.     Naturally  the  re- 
quest was  refused ;  but  these  people  could  not  under- 
stand why,  and  went  off  in  a  state  of  sullen  dis- 
content.    Here,  again,  was  a  conflict  between  our 
laws,  the  application  of  which  we  are  bound  to  up- 
hold, and  native  customs,  having  the  force  of  law 
and  so  far  regarded  by  the  highlanders  as  meeting 
all  necessities.     The  practice  of  head-hunting  still 
exists  in  the  Bontok  country,   though  the  steady 
discouragement  of  the  Government  is  beginning  to 
tell.     Here  in  Bontok  itself,  a  boy,  employed  as  a 
servant  in  the  Constabulary  mess,  dared  not  leave 


184          The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

the  mess  quarters  at  night;    in  fact,  was  forbidden 
to.     For  his  father,  having  a  grudge  against  a  man 
in  Samoki  across  the  river,  had  sent  a  party  over 
to  kill  him.     By  some  mistake,  the  wrong  man  was 
killed,  and  it  was  perfectly  well  understood  in  Bon- 
tok  that  the  family  of  the  victim    were  going  to 
take  the  son's  head  in  revenge,  and  were  only  wait- 
ing to  catch  him  out  before  doing  it.     These  hom- 
icides can,  however,  be  atoned  without  further  blood- 
shed, if  the  parties  interested  will  agree  to  it.     A 
more  or  less  amusing  instance  in  kind  was  recently 
furnished  by  the  village  of  Basao,   which  had  in  the 
most  unprovoked  manner  killed  a  citizen  of  a  neigh- 
boring rancher  ia,   the  name    of  which   I   have   un- 
fortunately forgotten      The  injured  village  at  once 
made  a  reclama  (i.  e.,  reclamation,  claim  for  com- 
pensatory damages),  and  Basao  agreed,  the  villages 
meeting  to  discuss  the  matter.     When  the  claim  was 
presented,  Basao,  to  the  unspeakable  astonishment 
and  indignation  of  the  offended  village,  at  once  ad- 
mitted the  justice  of  the  reclama,  and  handed  over  the 
damages — to-wit,  one  chicken  and  pesos  six  (three 
dollars).      This  was  an  insult  to  the  claimant;    for 
on  these  occasions  it  seems  that  each  party  takes 
advantage  of  the  opportunity  to  tell  the  other  what 
cowards  they  are,  what  thieves  and  liars,  how  poor 
and  miserable  they  are,  that  they  live  on  camotes— 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.          187 

in  short,  to  recite  all  the  crimes  and  misdemeanors 
they  have  been  guilty  of  from  a  time  whereof  the 
memory  of  man  runneth  not  to  the  contrary, 
this  recital  being  accompanied,  of  course,  by  an 
account  of  their  own  virtues,  qualities,  and  wealth. 
The  claimants  in  this  case  accordingly  withdrew, 
held  a  consultation,  and,  returning,  declared  that 
in  consequence  of  the  insult  put  upon  them  the 
damages  would  have  to  be  increased,  and  demanded 
one  peso  more!  The  body  is  always  returned,  and 
the  damages  cited  are  for  a  body  accompanied  by 
its  head ;  if  the  head  be  lacking,  the  damages  go  up, 
no  less  than  two  hundred  pesos,  a  fabulous  sum  in 
the  mountains. 

The  highlanders*  believe  in  bird  signs  and  omens 
drawn  from  animals  generally.  A  party  sent  out 
to  arrest  a  criminal  had  been  ordered  to  cross  the 
river  at  a  designated  point.  Returning  without 
their  man,  the  chief  was  asked  where  they  had 
crossed,  and,  on  answering  at  so-and-so  (a  different 
point  from  the  one  ordered),  was  asked  why  he  had 
disobeyed  orders.  It  seems  that  a  crow  had  flown 
along  the  bank  a  little  way,  and,  flying  over,  had 
alighted  in  a  tree  and  looked  fixedly  at  the  party. 
This  was  enough :  they  simply  had  to  cross  at  this 

*So  do  their  cousins  of  Formosa.  Pickering,  "Pioneering  in 
Formosa,"  p.  150;  London,  Hurst  &  Blackett,  1898. 


1 88         The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

point.  Sent  out  again  the  next  day,  a  snake  wrig- 
gled across  the  trail,  whereupon  the  chief  exclaimed 
joyfully  that  he  knew  now  they  would  get  their  man 
at  such  a  spot  and  by  one  o'clock,  that  the  snake 
showed  this  must  happen.  Unfortunately  it  did  so 
happen ! 

The  afternoon  passed  listening  to  stories  and 
incidents  like  those  just  given,  until  it  was  time  to 
go  and  see  the  sports.*  These,  with  one  exception, 
presented  no  peculiarity,  races,  jumping,  tug-of-war, 
and  a  wheelbarrow  race  by  young  women,  most  of 
whom  tried  to  escape  when  they  learned  what  was 
in  store  for  them.  But  the  crowd  laid  hold  on  them 
and  the  event  came  off ;  the  first  heat  culminating  in 
a  helpless  mix-up,  not  ten  yards  from  the  starting- 
line,  which  was  just  what  the  crowd  wanted  and  ex- 
pected. The  exception  mentioned  was  notable,  be- 
ing a  native  game,  played  by  two  grown  men.  One 
of  these  sits  on  a  box  or  bench  and,  putting  his  right 
heel  on  it,  with  both  hands  draws  the  skin  on  the 
outside  of  his  right  thigh  tight  and  waits.  The  other 
man,  standing  behind  the  first,  with  a  round-arm 
blow  and  open  hand  slaps  the  tightened  part  of 
the  thigh  of  the  man  on  the  box,  the  point  being 
to  draw  the  blood  up  under  the  skin.  The  blow 

*For  a  full  account  of  the  way  in  which  the  Igorots  have 
taken  to  our  sports,  see  Mr.  Worcester's  article  in  the  March,  1911, 
number  of  the  National  Geographic  Magazine. 


The  Head  Hunters  of  X  or  them  Luzon.          189 

delivered,  an  umpire  inspects,  the  American  doctor 
officiating  this  afternoon,  and,  if  the  tiny  drops  ap- 
pear, a  prize  is  given.  If  no  blood  shows,  the  men 
change  places,  and  the  performance  is  repeated. 
The  greatest  interest  was  taken  in  the  performance 
this  afternoon,  many  pairs  appearing  to  take  and 
give  the  blow.  The  thing  is  not  so  easy  as  it  looks, 
the  umpire  frequently  shaking  has  head  to  show 
that  no  blood  had  been  drawn.  The  prizes  con- 
sisted of  matches,  which  these  highlanders  are  most 
eager  to  get. 

The  day  closed  with  a  baile,  given  by  the  Ilo- 
kanos  living  in  Bontok.  Many  of  these  are  leaving 
their  narrow  coastal  plains  on  the  shores  of  the 
China  Sea  and  making  their  way  through  the  passes 
to  the  interior,  some  of  them  going  as  far  as  the 
Cagayan  country.  It  is  only  a  question  of  time 
when  they  will  have  spread  over  the  whole  of  North- 
ern Luzon.  This  baile  was  like  all  native  balls, 
rigodon,  waltzes,  and  two-steps;  remarkably  well 
done  too,  these,  considering  that  the  senoritas  wear 
the  native  slipper,  the  chinela,  which  is  nothing 
more  or  less  than  a  heelless  bed-room  slipper.  But 
one  scnorita  danced  the  jota  for  us,  a  graceful  and 
charming  dance,  with  one  cavalier  as  her  partner, 
friend  or  enemy  according  to  the  phase  intended 
to  be  depicted. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 


The  native  village. — Houses. — Pitapit. — Native  institutions. — Lu- 
mawig. 

The  next  day,  the  9th,  Father  Clapp  very  kind- 
ly offered  to  show  Strong  and  me  the  native  village, 
an  invitation  we  made  haste  to  accept.  This  vil- 
lage, if  village  it  be,  marches  with  the  Christian 
town,  so  that  we  at  once  got  into  it,  to  find  it  a 
collection  of  huts  put  down  higgledy-piggledy,  with 
almost  no  reference  to  convenience  of  access.  Streets, 
of  course,  there  were  none,  nor  even  regular  paths 
from  house  to  house;  you  just  picked  your  way 
from  one  habitation  to  the  next  as  best  you  could, 
carefully  avoiding  the  pig-sty  which  each  consider- 
able hut  seemed  to  have.  I  wish  I  could  say  that  the 
Igorot  out  of  rude  materials  had  built  a  simple  but 
clean  and  commodious  house!  He  has  done  noth- 
ing of  the  sort :  his  materials  are  rude  enough,  but 
his  hut  is  small,  low,  black,  and  dirty,  so  far  as  one 
could  tell  in  walking  through.  The  poorer  houses 
have  two  rooms,  an  inner  and  an  outer,  both  very 
small  (say  6x6  feet  and  4x6  feet  respectively, 
inside  measurement),  cooking  being  done  in  the 
outer  and  the  inner  serving  as  a  sleeping-room. 

190 


THE  BONTOK  IGOROT  SLAPPING  GAME:    AWAITING  THE  BLOW. 
THE  BONTOK  IGOROT  SLAPPING  GAME:    THE  BLOW 

[From  National  Geographic  Magazine,  Washington,  D,  C., 
Copyright  IQH;  by  special  permission.} 


Two  IGOROTS  HOLDING  GANSAS,  WITH  HUMAN  JAWS  AS  HANDLES. 

These  jaws  have  been  taken  from  their  enemies. 
[From  National  Geographic  Magazine,  Washington,  D.  C., 
Copyright  1911;  by  special  permission  ] 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.          193 

There  is  no  flooring;  although  the  fire  is  under  the 
roof  (grass  thatch),  no  smoke-hole  has  been  thought 
of,  and  as  there  are  no  window-openings,  and  the 
entrance  is  shut  up  tight  by  night  and  the  fire  kept 
up  if  the  weather  be  cold,  the  interior  is  as  black 
as  one  would  expect  from  the  constant  deposit  of 
soot.  The  ridge-pole  of  the  poorer  houses  is  so  low 
that  a  man  of  even  small  stature  could  not  stand  up 
under  it.  The  well-to-do  have  better  houses,  not 
only  larger,  but  having  a  sort  of  second  story ;  these 
are  soot-black,  too.  We  made  no  examination  of 
these,  not  even  a  cursory  one.  The  pig-sty  is  us- 
ually next  to  the  house,  and  is  nothing  but  a  rock- 
lined  pit,  open  to  the  sky,  except  where  the  house 
is  built  directly  over  it. 

It  is  astonishing  that  these  people  should  not 
have  evolved  a  better  house,  seeing  that  the  Ifugaos 
have  done  it,  and  the  Kalinga  houses,  which  we  were 
to  see  in  a  day  or  two,  are  really  superior  affairs. 

Passing  by  a  certain  house, Father  Clapp  stopped 
and  said,  "Here  is  where  Pitapit  was  born,"  and 
stood  expectant.  Strong  and  I  looked  furtively  at 
each  other;  it  was  evident  that  we  were  supposed 
to  know  who  Pitapit  was.  But  as  we  did  not,  the 
question  was  put:  "Who  is  Pitapit?"  Father 
Clapp,  gazing  pityingly  upon  us,  as  though  we  had 
asked  who  George  Washington  was,  then  enlight- 


194         The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

ened  us.  Pitapit  is  a  Bontok  boy  of  great  natural 
qualities,  so  great,  indeed,  that  he  was  sent  to  the 
States  to  a  church  school,  where  he  had  recently 
won  a  Greek  prize  in  competition!  Father  Clapp 
was  naturally  very  proud  of  this,  as  he  well  might 
be.  The  fact  of  the  matter  is  that  Igorot  children 
are  undeniably  bright;  given  the  chance,  they  will 
accomplish  something.  And  I  repeat  what  I  have 
said  before:  we  are  trying  to  give  them  and  their 
people  a  chance,  the  only  one  they  have  ever  had. 

We  remarked,  as  we  walked  about  this  morn- 
ing, that  although  Father  Clapp  seemed  to  know 
some  of  the  people  we  met  and  would  speak  to  them, 
they  never  returned  his  greeting.  None  of  these 
highlanders  have  any  words  or  custom  of  saluta- 
tion. In  the  Ifugao  country,  however,  they  shake 
hands,  and  would  frequently  smile  when  on  meet- 
ing them  we  would  say,  "Mapud!"- — i.  e.,  "Good!" 
—the  nearest  thing  to  a  greeting  that  our  very 
scanty  stock  of  Ifugao  words  afforded.  But  the 
Igorot  never  shook  hands  with  us  nor  offered  to: 
they  have  no  smile  for  the  stranger,  though  they 
seem  good-humored  enough  among  themselves. 

Poor  as  we  found  the  village  on  the  material 
side,  it  has  nevertheless  some  interesting  institu- 
tional features.  For  example,  it  has  sixteen  wards, 
or  atos,  and  each  a  to  has  its  meeting-place,  consist- 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.          195 

ing  of  a  circle  of  small  boulders,  where  the  men 
assemble  to  discuss  matters  affecting  the  ato,  such 
as  war  and  peace;  for  the  ato  is  the  political  unit, 
and  not  the  village  as  a  whole.  A  remarkable  thing 
is  the  family  life,  or  lack  of  it  rather:  as  soon  as 
children  are  three  or  four  years  old,  they  leave  the 
roof  under  which  they  were  born  and  go  to  sleep, 
the  boys  in  a  sort  of  dormitory  called  pabafunan, 
occupied  as  well  by  the  unmarried  men,*  and  the 
girls  in  one  called  olog.  And,  as  one  may  ask 
whether  pearls  are  costly  because  ladies  like  them  or 
whether  ladies  like  pearls  because  they  are  costly, 
so  here:  Is  the  Igorot  house  so  poor  an  affair  be- 
cause of  the  olog,  etc.,  or  does  the  olog  exist  because 
the  house  is  poor?  Be  this  as  it  may,  and  to  re- 
sume, the  children  go  on  sleeping  in  their  respect- 
ive pabafunan  and  olog  until  they  are  grown  up 
and  married.  A  sort  of  trial  marriage  seems  to 
exist ;  the  young  men  freely  visit  the  olog — indeed , 
are  expected  to.  If  results  follow,  it  is  a  marriage, 
and  the  couple  go  to  housekeeping;  otherwise  all 
the  parties  in  interest  are  free.  Marriage  ties  are 
respected,  adultery  being  punished  with  death ;  but 
a  man  may  have  more  than  one  wife,  though  us- 

*A  similiar  institution  exists  among  the  aborigines  of  Formosa, 
the  unmarried  men  and  boys  slept  in  a  shed  raised 
from  the  ground.     This  building  was  regarded  as  a  kind  of  temple, 
in  which  the  vanquished  heads  were  hung."     (Pickering,  "Pioneer- 
ing in  Formosa,"  p.  148.) 


196          The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

ually  that  number  is  not  exceeded.  However,  a 
man  was  pointed  out  to  us,  who  maintains  in  his 
desire  for  issue,  but  without  avail,  a  regular  harem, 
having  no  fewer  than  fifteen  wives  in  different  vil- 
lages, he  being  a  rich  man. 

Among  other  things  shown  us  by  Father  Clapp 
was  a  circle  of  highly  polished  boulders,  said  tra- 
ditionally to  be  the  foundation  of  the  house  of  Lu- 
mawig,  the  Deity  of  the  Bontok.  One  stone  was 
pierced  by  a  round  hole,  made  by  Lumawig's  spear: 
on  arriving,  he  decided  he  would  remain  perma- 
nently in  Bontok,  and  began  by  sticking  the  shaft 
of  his  spear  in  the  stone  in  question — a  very  minor 
example,  by  the  way,  of  his  magical  powers.  More 
interesting,  perhaps,  than  the  ruins  of  Lumawig's 
house  was  a  sacred  grove  on  a  hill  rising  just  back 
of  the  village,  in  which,  according  to  Father  Clapp, 
certain  rites  and  ceremonies  are  held  once  a  year. 
The  matter  is  one  for  experts,  but  it  appears  strange 
that  this  people  should  have  a  sacred  grove,  as 
being  unusual. 

We  wound  up  our  stay  in  Bontok  by  going  to 
a  grand  dinner  in  Government  House,  given  by 
Pack.* 


*For  a  more  or  less  complete  account  of  the  Bontok  Igorot, 
see  Jenks's  "The  Bontoc  Igorot";  Manila,  Bureau  of  Public  Print- 
ing, 1905.  For  the  language,  consult  "The  First  Grammar  of  the 
Language  Spoken  by  the  Bontoc  Igorot,"  by  Doctor  Carl  Wilhelm 
Seidenadel;  Chicago,  Open  Court  Publishing  Company,  1909. 


w 


o   >, 


CHAPTER  XX. 


We  push  on  north. — Banana  skirts. — -Albino  child. — Pine  uplands. — 
Glorious  view. 

Our  two  days'  stay  had  greatly  refreshed  our 
horses  and  ponies,  and  they  needed  it,  not  only  be- 
cause of  the  work  already  done,  but  because  of  the 
effort  we  were  going  to  ask  of  them  during  the  next 
forty-eight  hours,  when  the  sum  total  of  our  as- 
cents was  to  be  18,000  feet,  and  of  descents  the 
same,  and  the  distance  to  be  travelled  seventy  miles. 

We  continued  our  journey  on  the  loth,  leaving 
Van  Schaick  behind,  and  also  Cootes,  both  of  whom 
had  been  taken  ill,  not  seriously,  but  enough  to 
make  it  safer  to  fall  out  than  to  go  on.  On  this 
day,  the  relations  between  neighboring  rancherias 
being  uncertain,  we  changed  cargadores  at  the-  out- 
skirts of  each  village  we  came  to.  We  could  un- 
doubtedly have  taken  the  same  set  of  men  through, 
but  it  was  thought  best  not  to  try  it.  At  the  same 
time,  the  mere  fact  of  our  riding  through  unmo- 
lested, and  still  more  the  fact  that  Gallman  was 
taking  a  party  of  Ifugaos  with  him  to  show  them 
the  country,  is  proof  positive  that  peace  is  making 

199 


200         The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

its  way  in  the  North,  just  as  it  has  already  done 
farther  south. 

Our  first  day  the  going  was  very  hilly,  and  very 
hot;  we  dismounted  frequently  so  as  to  spare  our 
cattle  over  the  steepest  ups  and  downs.  As  before, 
not  only  was  the  scenery  that  unfolded  itself,  as  we 
rose  from  the  valley  of  the  Rio  Chico,  of  great 
beauty,  but  it  increased  in  beauty  the  farther  north 
we  travelled.  And  I  can  not  but  regret  again  my 
inability  to  give  some  idea,  however  faint,  of  these 
mountains  and  valleys  and  rivers,  especially  of 
those  that  paraded  themselves  before  us  on  the 
second  day's  ride. 

About  four  hours  out  (the  hour,  and  not  the 
mile,  being  the  unit  of  the  highlands),  as  we  were 
nearing  the  top  of  a  ridge,  a  party  of  young  women 
and  girls  came  out  of  the  wood  on  our  left,  each 
with  a  banana-leaf  skirt  on,  no  less  and  no  more. 
They  had  simply  stripped  off  one  side  of  the  leaf, 
and,  after  splitting  the  other  into  ribbons,  had 
wrapped  the  stem  about  their  waists,  and  there 
they  were,  each  with  a  sufficient  skirt.  One  of 
them  had  apparently  never  seen  a  horse  before,  agid 
showed  so  much  interest  that  Pack  gallantly  of- 
fered to  let  her  mount  his  and  take  a  ride.  When 
the  remainder  of  her  party  understood  from  her 
motions  that  she  was  actually  going  to  bestride 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.         201 

that  monster,  they  set  up  a  chorus  of  ear-piercing 
shrieks  and  screams  and  laid  hold  on  their  insane 
sister,  and  besought  her  with  lamentations  not  to 
risk  her  life.  During  the  struggle,  Mr.  Worcester 
came  up  and  produced  a  diversion  by  offering  red 
cloth,  and,  moving  to  the  top  of  the  ridge  for  the 
distribution,  we  found  there  some  twenty-five  or 
thirty  more  damsels,  of  all  ages  from  grandmother 
to  mere  tot,  and  all  banana-skirted.  Mr.  Worcester 
said  that  in  all  his  experience  he  had  never  seen 
the  like  before.  Heiser,  in  the  meantime,  had  got 
out  his  camera  and  tried  to  form  a  group  with  the 
children  in  front  and  the  older  ones  back.  But 
when  they  realized  that  the  effect  of  this  would  be 
to  conceal  all  but  the  heads  ajid  shoulders  of  those 
in  rear,  the  group  broke  up  almost  automatically, 
giving  way  to  a  line  with  arms  linked,  which  no 
amount  of  effort  on  anyone's  part  succeeded  in 
breaking.  Each  one  was  resolved  to  be  in  the  pict- 
ure at  full  length!  In  the  crowd,  looking  on,  was 
a  man  carrying  an  albino,  a  child  two  or  three  years 
of  age,  with  absolutely  fair  white  skin  and  yellow 
hair.  It  was  sound  asleep,  and  so  I  did  not  see 
its  eyes,  but  otherwise  it  was  a  perfect  albino;  even 
here  at  home  and  as  a  normal  child  it  would,  have 
been  regarded  as  unusually  fair.  The  pack  had  now 
got  up,  and  Mr.  Worcester  began  his  issue.  At  his 


202         The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

feet  stood  a  little  lassie,  whom  he  overlooked,  and 
whose  countenance,  as  she  saw  the  red  cloth  di- 
minishing and  likewise  her  chances,  displayed  the 
most  vivid  play  of  emotion.  Finally,  when  the  last 
yard  of  the  stuff  had  been  given  out  and  she  had 
got  none  of  it,  two  large  tears  formed  and  ran  down 
her  cheeks.  Poor  little  thing,  but  ten  minutes  ago 
she  had  braved  it  with  the  best  of  them,  but  her 
skirt  had  now  suddenly  gone  out  of  style!  The 
eternal  feminine !  I  neither  saw  nor  heard  any  other 
child  cry  during  the  whole  trip.  As  we  rode  off, 
our  banana-grove  accompanied  us  part  way,  sing- 
ing, and,  disappearing  behind  a  hillock  on  our  left, 

"Unrobed  and  unabashed  in  Arcady," 
shifted  from  Nature's  weave  to  man's. 

From  this  point  to  the  stream  at  its  foot,  the 
ridge  on  which  we  found  ourselves  was  completely 
bare  of  trees,  and  presented  a  different  appearance 
from  any  other  so  far  seen  or  to  be  seen,  tremendous 
rounded  masses.  One  of  these  had  been  split  through 
the  middle  by  a  recent  earthquake;  the  right  half, 
as  we  looked  at  it,  dropping  down  eight  or  ten  feet 
below  the  other,  a  splendid  example  of  convulsive 
power.  Across  the  stream  and  nearly  at  the  top 
of  the  climb  that  followed  we  halted  for  chow  and 
sleep  under  some  tall  pines.  Two  hours  later  we 
were  off  again,  through  a  country  from  which  all 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Xorthern  Luzon.          203 

visible  suggestion  of  the  tropics  had  disappeared. 
We  were  passing  through  red  soil  uplands,  grass 
and  pines,  with  a  clear  view  in  all  directions. 

Passing  on,  we  now  faced  one  of  the  most  disa- 
greeable ascents  of  the  whole  trip :  a  bare,  mountain- 
ous hill  facing  south,  so  steep  that  we  had  to  switch- 
back it  to  the  top,  with  the  sun  blazing  down  on  our 
backs,  the  hour  being  three  of  the  afternoon,  and 
not  a  breath  of  wind  going.  It  was  too  steep  to 
ride,  and  our  water-bottles  were  empty.  When  we 
got  to  the  top,  Gallman  and  I,  we  could  both  have 
exclaimed  with  Villon, 

"  ]e  crache  blanc  comme  colon." 

What  wonder,  then,  that  on  finding  a  clear,  cold 
spring  at  hand,  Gallman  should  have  drunk  his  fill 
of  the  cool  water,  and  that  he  should  have  persuaded 
me,  against  my  better  judgment,  to  take  a  swallow 
of  it,  just  one  swallow,  no  more?  Who  would  have 
believed  that  a  mere  taste  of  such  innocent-looking, 
refreshing  water  could  have  had  such  dire  conse- 
quences? For  it  made  me  ill  for  six  weeks,  at  times 
all  but  disabling  me.  However,  as  water,  it  was 
irreproachable;  and,  anyway,  as  though  to  com- 
pensate the  tiresome  climb  just  finished,  we  had 
before  us  now  one  of  the  most  glorious  views  imag- 
inable. From  far  to  the  south — indeed,  from  the 


204          The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

blue  mountains  bounding  the  view  miles  away,  the 
silver  ribbon  of  the  Rio  Chico  unrolled  itself  in  a 
straight  line  between  green-sloped  mountains,  rising 
from  its  very  banks  and  towering  into  the  clouds. 
At  our  feet,  but  far  below,  the  river  turned  square 
to  the  east  in  a  boiling  rapid  between  gigantic  walls 
of  rock,  the  mountains  here  yielding  to  its  sweep 
in  a  broadening  valley  only  to  press  on  it  beyond 
and  thrust  it  back  on  its  way  northward.  It  was 
all  splendid  and  simple;  if  you  please,  nothing  but 
a  stream  filling  the  intersecting  slopes  of  a  wedge- 
shaped  valley  and  turning  off  because  it  had  to. 
But  the  serenity  of  the  whole  composition:  gray 
rocks,  shining  waters,  green  slopes ;  white  mists,  en- 
veloping the  crests,  smiling  in  the  afternoon  sun !  Jad- 
ed as  were  our  faculties  of  admiration  by  the  many 
exquisite  scenes  we  had  already  passed  through, 
this  one  held  us.  We  had  to  leave  it,  though,  mak- 
ing our  halt  later  for  the  night  at  a  rest-house  in 
a  pine  wood,  near  a  good  stream. 


CHAPTER  XXL 

Deep  valley. — A  poor  rancheria. — Escort  of  boys. — Descent  of  Ting- 
layan  Hill. — Sullen  reception  at  Tinglayan. — Bangad. — First 
view  of  the  Kalingas. — Arrival  at  Lubuagan. 

We  were  off  early  the  next  morning,  the  nth, 
our  destination  being  Lubuagan,  the  capital  of  the 
Kalinga  country.  We  had  a  long,  hard  day  before 
us.  As  I  was  about  to  mount,  I  noticed  that  Doyle, 
Mr.  Forbes's  groom,  looked  seedy,  and  learned  that 
Bubud  had  broken  loose  in  the  night  and  gone  the 
rounds  of  the  herd,  kicking  every  animal  in  it  be- 
fore he  could  be  caught,  and  so  robbing  poor  Doyle 
of  a  good  part  of  his  sleep.  After  riding  a  bit 
through  the  pines,  the  ground  apparently  dropped 
off  in  front  of  us  out  of  sight,  rising  in  a  counter 
slope  on  the  other  side,  in  a  great  green  wall  from 
which  sprang  a  hogback;  only  this  time  it  was  a 
razor-back,  so  sharp  was  its  edge,  up  which  back 
and  forth  ran  the  trail.  It  was  another  of  those 
deep  knife-like  valleys;  this  one,  however,  chal- 
lenging our  passage,  and  justly,  for  it  was  more 
canon  than  valley,  and  it  took  us  nearly  two  hours 
to  cross  it.  But  it  was  worth  the  trouble  and  time. 
For  imagine  a  canon  with  forested  sides  and  car- 
peted in  green  from  the  stream  in  its  bed  to  the 


205 


206          The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

i 

highest  bounding  ridge!     Near   the   top   we   came 

upon  a  bank  of  pitcher-plants,  the  pitchers  of  some 
of  them  being  fully  six  inches  long.  A  mile  or  so 
farther  on,  we  halted  and  dismounted  near  a  little 
rancheria,  Butbut  by  name,  in  a  corner  of  the  hills, 
the  people  of  which  had  been  assembled  for  the 
"Commission."  These  were  the  only  physically 
degraded-looking  people  we  saw  on  the  trip;  small 
of  stature,  feeble-looking  and  spiritless.  The  reason 
was  not  far  to  seek:  it  is  probable  that  they  live 
hungry,  through  lack  of  suitable  ground  for  rice- 
cultivation,  and  because  their  neighbors  are  hostile. 
Now,  I  take  it  on  myself  to  say  that  it  is  just  this 
sort  of  thing  that  will  come  to  an  end  if  Mr.  Wor- 
cester is  allowed  to  carry  out  his  policies.  For, 
with  free  communication  and  diminishing  hostility, 
interchange  of  commodities  must  needs  take  place. 
Indeed,  the  relations  existing  between  ranckerias  are 
nothing  but  our  own  system  of  high  protection  car- 
ried to  a  logical  extreme  by  imposing  a  prohibitive 
tariff  on  heads!  Fundamentally,  granted  an  ex- 
tremely limited  food-supply,  every  stranger  is  an 
enemy,  and  the  shortest  way  to  be  rid  of  the  diffi- 
culty involved  in  his  presence  is  to  reduce  him  to 
the  impossibility  of  eating. 

On  reaching  the  top  of  Tinglayan  Hill,  which 
we  did  shortly  after  leaving  the  poor  people  just 


o-g 
2  J 


KAI.IXGA  GIRL,  LUBUAGAN. 


212          The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

mentioned,  we  saw  a  man  coming  towards  us  ac- 
companied by  thirty  or  forty  boys  not  more  than 
ten  or  eleven  years  of  age,  all  gee-stringed,  and 
eight  of  them  carrying  head-axes  on  their  hips. 
When  the  man  got  up,  he  handed  Mr.  Worcester 
a  bamboo  about  a  yard  long.  Mr.  Worcester  drank 
and  then  passed  it  on  back  to  us,  the  best  stuff,  it 
seemed  to  us  that  hot  morning,  we  had  ever  tasted. 
We  were  now  in  the  basi  country;  this  being  a  sort 
of  fermented  sugar-cane  juice,  judiciously  diluted 
with  water.*  The  boys  now  formed  a  sort  of  col- 
umn with  the  ax-bearers  immediately  in  front  of 
Mr.  Worcester  as  a  guard  of  honor,  and  we  got  a 
good  look  at  them,  well-built,  erect,  of  a  light  brown, 
with  black  flowing  hair.  They  were  as .  healthy- 
looking  as  possible,  and,  what  is  more,  intelligent 
of  countenance — by  all  odds  the  brightest,  most 
cheerful  lot  of  youngsters  we  had  yet  seen.  As  we 
moved  off  they  set  up  a  chant,  clear  and  wild,  be- 
ginning with  a  high  note  and  concluding  with  as 
deep  a  one  as  their  young  voices  could  compass. 
The  thing  was  as  beautiful  as  it  was  wild,  and  as- 
tonishing from  the  number  and  range  of  notes  used. 

*Dampier  mentions  this  drink  in  his  "New  Voyage  Around 
the  World."  He  calls  it  bashee,  and  found  it  in  the  Batanes  Islands, 
just  north  of  Luzon:  "  And  indeed,  from  the  plenty  of  this  Liquor, 
and  their  plentiful  use  of  it,  our  Men  call'd  all  these  Islands,  the 
Bashee  Islands."  (Masefield's  edition,  o.  425.) 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.          213 

Marching  thus,  we  came  upon  a  large  gather- 
ing of  men,  women,  and  children,  to  whom  various 
gifts  of  cloth,  pins,  beads,  etc.,  were  made.  Here 
Gallman  found,  to  his  amazement,  that  he  could 
understand  the  speech  of  these  people.  Not  trust- 
ing his  own  ear  in  the  matter,  he  sent  Comhit  about 
to  talk  to  them,  and  reported  afterward  that  both 
not  only  had  understood  what  was  said,  but  had 
made  their  own  selves  understood.  Neither  of  them 
could  make  out  a  word  in  the  poor  village  we  had 
just  passed  through,  nor  anywhere  else  on  the  road 
in  the  Bontok  country. 

We  now  began  the  long  descent  to  Tinglayan, 
seven  miles,  most  of  us  walking  and  leading  our 
ponies.  At  Tinglayan,  instead  of  the  usual  cheer- 
ful crowd  waiting  to  welcome  us,  we  found  only  a 
few  extremely  sullen  men  and  women,  who  held 
themselves  persistently  aloof.  There  were  no  chil- 
dren, neither  were  chickens  nor  eggs  offered — a  bad 
sign.  This  reception  was  due  entirely  to  the  re- 
fusal of  the  authorities  to  give  up  the  Constabulary 
private  that  had  but  recently  shot  and  killed  the 
head  man  of  the  rancher ia,  as  already  explained. 
However,  in  time,  Mr.  Worcester  prevailed  on  the 
few  present  to  accept  gifts,  and  we  affected  not  to 
notice  the  character  of  our  reception,  not  only  the 
best,  but  indeed  the  only  thing  to  do.  Here  we 


214         The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon, 

had  chow.  We  were  now  directly  on  the  left  bank 
of  the  Chico,  and,  passing  on,  found  the  country 
more  open,  and  so  better  cultivated,  the  paddies 
being  broad,  the  retaining- walls  low,  and  the  country- 
side generally  wearing  an  air  of  peace  and  affluence. 
This  impression  deepened  as  we  reached  Bangad, 
extremely  well  situated  on  a  tongue  running  out 
at  right  angles  to  the  main  course  of  hills.  Here 
was  a  semblance  of  a  street,  following  the  trail,  or, 
rather,  the  trail,  going  through,  had  followed  the 
street.  The  houses  were  larger,  cleaner,  better  built; 
in  short,  substantial.  One  of  them,  unfinished,  gave 
us  some  idea  of  its  construction :  floor  sills  on  posts 
to  ground;  roof  frame  of  planks,  i  x  6  inches,  bent 
over  to  form  the  sides  of  the  house  when  completed, 
all  hard  wood,  without  a  single  nail,  the  whole  being 
held  together  by  mortises  and  tenons  and  other 
joints,  accurately  made  and  neatly  fitted.  We  re- 
mained here  an  hour  or  so,  while  the  "Commission" 
was  making  gifts  to  the  people.  No  weapons  what- 
ever were  visible,  and  the  women  and  children  moved 
about  freely  without  a  trace  of  shyness  or  fear. 
Our  way  beyond  the  village  now  took  us  by  many 
turns  .back  to  the  river,  the  trail  finally  rising  in 
the  side  of  a  vertical  cliff,  such  that  by  leaning  over 
a  little  one  could  look  past  one's  stirrup  straight 
down  to  the  water  many  hundreds  of  feet  below. 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.         215 

At  the  highest  point  the  trail  turned  sharp  to  the 
left,  almost  back  on  itself.  I  am  proud  to  say  that 
I  rode  it  all,  but  was  thankful  when  it  was  behind 
us.  Heiser's  horse  this  day  got  three  of  his  feet 
over  the  edge  and  rolled  down  eighty  or  ninety  feet, 
Heiser  having  jumped  off  in  time  to  let  his  mount 
go  alone.  It  was  fortunate  for  him  that  this  par- 
ticular cliff  was  not  the  scene  of  this  fall.  Some 
three  miles  farther,  on  fording  a  stream,  we  passed 
from  Bontok  into  Kalinga,  and  were  met  by  Mr. 
Hale,  the  Governor,  with  two  warriors,  tall  and 
slender,  broad  of  chest  and  thin  of  flank,  with  red 
and  yellow  gee-strings,  tufts  of  brilliant  feathers  in 
their  hair,  and  highly  polished  head-axes  on  their 
hips.  Greetings  over,  we  went  on,  and  soon  reached 
the  river  again,  going  down  the  left  bank  until  we 
came  upon  what  seemed  to  me  to  be  a  most  inter- 
esting geological  formation.  For  the  bank  of  the 
river  here  rose  sharply  in  a  rounded,  elongated 
mass,  the  end  of  which  toward  us  was  cut  off, 
as  it  were,  just  as  one  cuts  off  the  end  of  a  loaf 
of  bread,  and  showed  alternate  thin  black  and 
white  strata  only  three  or  four  inches  thick  tilted 
at  an  angle  of  sixty  or  seventy  degrees  and  mount- 
ing several  hundred  feet  in  the  air.  The  trail  itself 
had  been  cut  out  in  the  side  of  the  mass,  and  was 
so  narrow  that  not  only  was  everyone  ordered  to 


kTofc^*****;^ 


Drawn  by  Glassford, 


SPIRAL  CAMOTE  PATCH. 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.          217 

dismount,  but  the  American  horses  were  all  un- 
saddled, the  inch  or  two  so  gained  being  important 
in  passing  along.  The  black  and  white  strata  show- 
ing on  the  path,  there  was  an  opportunity  to  exam- 
ine them;  the  black  layers  were  so  soft  and  friable 
that  they  could  be  gouged  out  with  ease  with  the 
hand,  and  appeared  to  be  vegetable,  while  the  white 
stripes  were  most  probably  limestone.  This  bit  of 
the  trail  is  regarded  as  dangerous,  because  the  rock 
overhead  is  continually  breaking  loose  and  tum- 
bling down;  for  this  reason  it  was  unsafe  to  try 
to  dislodge  pieces  for  later  examination.  One  of 
our  cargadores,  as  it  was,  fell  over,  his  pack  getting 
knocked  in,  while  he  himself  escaped  with  a  bruise 
or  two.  It  was  a  bad  place!  At  the  end  of  it  a 
host  of  Kalingas  acclaimed  us,  as  picturesque  as  the 
warriors  we  had  met  at  the  stream,  and  took  over 
the  pack.  Leaving  the  river,  we  began  what  ap- 
peared to  be  an  interminable  climb  to  Lubuagan. 
Up  ran  the  trail,  disappearing  far  ahead  above  us, 
behind  the  shoulder  of  the  ridge;  and  we  would  all 
be  hoping  (those  of  us  to  whom  the  country  was 
new)  that  Lubuagan  would  be  just  around  the  turn, 
only  to  find  we  had  the  same  sort  of  climb  to  an- 
other shoulder;  the  fact  being  that  the  ridge  here 
thrust  itself  out  in  rising  echeloned  spurs,  each  one 
of  which  had  to  be  turned,  so  that  we  began  to 


218         The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

doubt  if  there  was  such  a  place  as  the  capital  of 
the  Kalinga  province.  In  truth,  we  had  been  up 
since  3:30  and  were  nearly  spent  from  heat  and 
thirst.  But  at  last  we  made  the  final  turn,  and 
entered  upon  a  narrow  green  valley,  with  a  bold, 
clear  stream  rushing  over  and  between  the  rocks 
that  filled  its  bed.  Broad-leafed  plants  nodded  a 
welcome  from  the  waters,  as  we  rode  through  the 
grateful  shadow  of  the  overarching  trees,  and  shin- 
ing pools  smiled  upon  us.  We  crossed  a  bridge, 
came  down  a  bit,  and,  breaking  through  the  fringe 
of  trees  and  shrubs,  saw  before  us  the  place-of-arms 
of  Lubuagan. 


MADALLAM,  KALINGA  HEADMAN,  LUBUAGAN. 


Two  HEADMEN  OF  LUBUAGAN. 
Showing  scarlet  hibiscus  and  feather  head-dresses. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

Splendid  appearance  of  the  Kalingas. — Dancing. — Lubuagan. — Ba- 
si. — Councils. — Bustles  and  braids. — Jewels  and  weapons. — 
Excellent  houses. 

The  sight  that-  greeted  us  was  stirring,  suggest- 
ing to  the  piously  minded  Bishop  Heber's  unmatched 
lines : 

"A  noble  army,  men  and  boys, 
The  matron  and  the  maid." 

There  must  have  been  thousands  of  people,  as  many 
women  as  men,  and  almost  as  many  children  as 
women,  all  of  whom  set  up  a  mighty  shout  as  our 
little  column  emerged.  But  what  especially  and 
immediately  caught  the  eye  was  the  brilliancy  of 
the  scene.  For,  whereas  the  people  so  far  encoun- 
tered had  impressed  us  by  the  sobriety  of  color  dis- 
played, these  Kalingas  blazed  out  upon  us  in  the 
most  vivid  reds  and  yellows.  Many  of  them,  women 
as  well  as  men,  had  on  tight-fitting  Moro  jackets  of 
red  and  yellow  stripes;  but  whatever  it  was — skirt, 
jacket,  or  gee-string — only  one  pattern  showed  itself, 
the  alternation  of  red  and  yellow,  well  brought  out 
by  the  clear  brown  of  the  skin.  As  though  this 

221 


222          The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

were  not  enough,  some  men  had  adorned  their  abun- 
dant black  hair  with  scarlet  hibiscus  flowers,  and 
all,  or  nearly  all,  wore  plumes  of  feathers,  one  over 
each  ear.  Each  rancheria  has  its  distinctive  plume; 
as,  red  with  black  tips,  black  with  red,  all  red, 
white  with  black,  and  so  on,  some  with  notched  and 
others  with  natural  edges.  Many  men  had  axes  on 
their  hips.  The  whole  effect  was  startling,  and  all 
the  more  that  these  people,  erect,  sinewy,  of  excel- 
lent build  like  their  comrades  farther  south,  were 
perceptibly  taller,  men  five  feet  ten  inches  tall  not 
being  uncommon.  Add  to  this  a  stateliness  of  walk 
and  carriage,  combined  with  a  natural,  wholly  un- 
conscious ease  and  grace  of  motion,  and  it  is  easy 
to  imagine  the  fine  impression  made  upon  us  by  our 
first  look  upon  these  assembled  people.  It  is  not 
too  much  to  say  that  the  whole  sight  was  splendid; 
but,  more  than  this,  under  the  surface  of  things,  it 
was  easy  to  catch  at  once  the  possibility  of  a  real 
development  by  these  people  under  any  sort  of 
opportunity  whatever. 

We  had  hardly  dismounted  before  the  dancing 
began,  in  general  against  the  sun,  as  elsewhere. 
Each  rancheria  of  the  many  present  had  its  dancers, 
and  all  made  a  display.  One  event,  if  the  sporting 
term  be  permissible,  seemed  to  be  a  sort  of  "  follow - 
my-leader";  the  motions,  however,  being  confined 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.          223 

to  the  circle,  across  which  the  file  would  go  from 
time  to  time,  thus  differing  from  any  other  dance 
seen.  In  some  cases,  the  step  was  bold  and  lively; 
in  others,  slow  and  stately,  with  arms  outstretched. 
The  gansa  music  was  not  nearly  so  well  marked  as 
that  of  the  Ifugaos;  it  seemed  to  lack  definition 
(an  opinion  advanced  with  some  hesitation,  and 
which  a  professional  musician  might  not  agree  with) . 
Sometimes  women  only  appeared;  in  fact,  up  here 
the  sexes  did  not  mix  in  the  dance.  If  we  had  re- 
mained longer  in  this  part  of  the  country,  perhaps 
the  differences  and  characteristics  of  this  expression 
of  native  genius  would  have  stood  out  more  clearly ; 
but  in  our  short  time,  with  so  much  dancing  going 
on,  impressions  necessarily  overlapped.  And,  in  any 
case,  shortly  after  our  arrival,  night  fell,  putting 
an  end  to  the  show,  and  we  betook  ourselves  to 
our  quarters ;  Captain  Harris,  of  the  local  Constabu- 
lary forces,  most  kindly  receiving  some  of  us  in 
his  house. 

Kalinga  is  neither  a  race  nor  a  tribe  name,  but 
a  word  meaning  "enemy"  or  "outlaw,"  as  though  the 
hand  of  the  people  that  bear  it  had  been  against 
everybody's  else.  These  people  have  been  great 
head-hunters,  and  have  not  yet  entirely  abandoned 
the  practice,  though  it  is  steadily  diminishing.  It 
should  be  recollected,  however,  that  it  is  only  with- 


224          The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

in  the  last  three  or  four  years  that  we  have  had 
any  relations  with  them,  Mr.  Worcester's  first  visit 
to  Lubuagan  having  occurred  in  1907.  On  this  oc- 
casion, immediately  on  arriving,  he  was  shut  up  with 
his  party  in  a  house;  and  all  night  a  lively  debate 
went  on  outside  as  to  whether  the  next  morning 
his  head  should  be  taken  or  not,  his  native  inter- 
preter informing  him  of  the  progress  of  opinion  as 
the  night  wore  on. 

In  some  respects  these  Kalingas  differed  from 
the  tribes  already  visited.  Their  superior  height 
has  already  been  noted.  It  may  be  noted  further 
that  they  are  sloe-eyed,  and  their  eyes  are  wide 
apart.  It  is  said  that  they  have  an  infusion  of 
Moro  blood,  brought  in,  many  years  ago,  by  exiles 
from  Moroland  turned  loose  on  the  north  coast  of 
Luzon  by  the  Spaniards,  with  the  expectation  that 
the  local  tribes  would  kill  them ;  instead,  they  inter- 
married. Among  themselves  they  call  their  import- 
ant men  dato,  a  Moro  title,  and  their  Moro  dress 
has  already  been  mentioned.  They  will  not  marry 
outside  of  their  own  blood,  and  their  women,  so  we 
were  told,  would  not  look  at  a  white  man. 

Lubuagan  itself  is  extremely  well  situated  on  a 
gigantic  terrace-like  slope,  as  though,  as  at  Kiangan, 
an  avalanche  of  earth  had  burst  through  the  rim  of 
encompassing  mountains.  Here  live  the  Governor  of 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.         225 

the  province  and  the  inspector  of  Constabulary  with 
a  detachment;  their  houses,  with  the  cuartel  and 
public  offices,  are  disposed  around  a  sort  of  parade, 
divided  into  an  upper  and  a  lower  terrace.  Agui- 
naldo  marched  through  the  place  during  his  flight, 
and  left  behind  seventeen  of  his  men,  sick  and 
wounded.  He  had  no  sooner  gone  than  these  were 
all  taken  out  and  beheaded.  The  native  town  lies 
above  and  just  back  of  the  parade,  with  its  houses 
running  well  up  on  the  slopes.  These  are,  every- 
where possible,  terraced  for  rice,  and  so  successfully 
that  two  crops  are  made  every  year,  as  against  only 
one  at  Bontok  and  elsewhere.  It  follows  that  the 
Kalingas  have  more  to  eat  than  their  relatives  to  the 
south,  and  that  is  perhaps  one  reason  of  their  greater 
stature. 

The  morning  of  the  i2th,  our  one  full  day  at 
Lubuagan,  broke  clear,  bright,  and  hot,  and  so  the 
day  remained.  Events  during  the  next  few  hours  had 
no  particular  axis.  We  looked  on  mostly,  though, 
of  course,  here  as  elsewhere,  business  there  was  to  be 
dispatched.  The  upper  terrace  was  the  scene  of 
crowded  activity,  being  packed  with  people  from 
sunrise  to  sunset.  Dancing  went  on  the  whole  day; 
the  sound  of  the  gansa  never  ceased.  A  particu- 
larly interesting  dance  was  that  of  a  number  of 
little  girls,  eight  or  ten  years  of  age,  who  went 


226          The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

through  their  steps  with  the  greatest  seriousness 
and  dignity,  a  very  pretty  sight.  In  yet  another 
the  performers,  nine  all  told,  grown  men,  attracted 
attention  from  the  fact  that  the  handles  of  their 
gansas  were  human  lower  jaws,  apparently  new,  in 
the  teeth  of  two  of  which  gold  fillings  glistened. 
The  Ifugaos,  who,  it  will  be  recollected,  had  ac- 
companied us  from  Banawe,  also  danced,  their  steps, 
motions,  and  music  forming  a  sharp  contrast.  This 
dance  over,  Comhit  could  not  restrain  himself,  but 
made  a  speech,  in  which  he  declared  that  "These 
people  up  here,  the  Kalingas,  are  very  good  people 
indeed,  but  not  so  good  as  the  Ifugaos."  Fortun- 
ately, only  his  own  people  understood  him.  He  had 
noticed  on  the  way  that  the  people  we  passed  of- 
fered nothing  to  drink  to  the  traveller,  and  had 
commented  freely  to  Gallman  on  this  lack  of  hos- 
pitality, so  different  from  his  country's  habits.  We 
had  nothing  to  complain  of,  however,  on  this  score 
at  L,ubuagan,  for  basi  circulated  freely  the  whole 
day,  being  passed  along  sometimes  in  a  tin  cup,  at 
others  in  a  bamboo;  everybody  drank  out  of  one 
and  the  same  vessel.  On  the  whole,  this  basi  was 
poor  stuff,  not  nearly  so  good  as  bubud.  Harris 
told  me  after  the  day  was  over,  and  we  had  taken 
innumerable  tastes,  at  least,  of  the  brew  (for  one 
must  drink  when  it  is  passed),  that  in  preparing 


Tlie  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.          227 

basi  a  dog's  heart,*  cut  up  into  bits,  is  added  to  the 
fermenting  liquid  to  give  it  body.  One  man  amused 
us  by  going  around  with  a  bamboo  six  inches  or 
more  in  diameter  and  at  least  eight  feet  in  length 
over  his  shoulder,  and  obligingly  stopping  to  let  his 
friends  bend  down  the  mouth  and  help  themselves— 
a  "long"  drink  if  there  ever  was  one! 

But  it  was  not  all  basi  and  dancing:  councils 
were  held,  the  visiting  rancherias  profiting  by  the 
opportunity  of  enforced  peace  to  clear  up  issues. 
At  these  councils,  which  came  off  in  the  open,  on 
the  parade,  the  people  of  the  rancherias  interested 
would  sit  on  the  ground  in  a  circle,  maintaining 
absolute  silence,  while  their  spokesmen,  a  head  man 
from  each,  walked  around  in  the  circle.  The  man 
who  had  the  floor,  so  to  say,  would  remain  behind 
and  address  his  adversary  in  the  debate,  who  mean- 
time kept  on  walking  around  with  his  back  turned 
squarely  on  the  speaker.  As  soon  as  the  argument 
in  hand  had  been  made,  both  would  countermarch, 
and  the  listener  would  now  become  the  speaker. 
A  great  part  of  the  debate  was  taken  up  on  both 

*De  La  Gironiere,  in  his  "Aventures  d'un  Gentilhomme 
Breton  aux  lies  Philippines,"  describes  (Chapter  V.)  a  feast,  at 
which  he  had,  while  on  a  visit  to  the  Tinguianes,  to  drink  human 
brains  mixed  with  basi.  Whatever  De  La  Gironiere  says  must  be 
received  with  considerable  caution;  but  Pickering,  a  prosac  andi 
matter-of-fact  Britisher,  speaking  of  the  Formosan  savages,  says 
that  "they  mixed  the  brains  of  their  enemies  with  wine."  ("Pi- 
oneering in  Formosa,"  p.  153.) 


228          The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

sides  by  a  recital  of  the  crimes  and  misdemeanors 
of  which  the  other  party  had  been  guilty.  In  one 
of  these  councils,  one  debater — wearing  civilized 
dress,  by  the  way — suddenly  broke  through  the 
circle  and  disappeared,  much  to  our  astonishment, 
until  it  was  explained  that  his  opponent  in  the  de- 
bate had  charged  him  with  having  recently  poisoned 
six  persons;  as  this  was  perilously  near  the  truth, 
the  criminal  simply  ran  away.  The  accuser  was  a 
fine-looking  man,  splendidly  dressed,  of  a  haughty 
countenance,  displaying  the  greatest  contempt  for 
all  the  arguments  addressed  to  him,  his  impatience 
being  marked  by  "  Hds!"  accompanied  by  stamping 
on  the  ground  the  while  and  striking  it  with  the 
butt  of  his  spear.  This  chief  was  in  confinement  at 
Lubuagan,  but,  to  save  his  face,  Governor  Hale  had 
enlarged  him  during  our  stay. 

Naturally  there  was  an  opportunity  during  the 
day  of  observing  many  things  in  some  detail.  Who 
shall  say,  for  example,  that  the  Kalingas  are  not 
civilized?  The  women  and  girls  all  wear  bustles, 
a  continuous  affair  made  of  bejuco,  an  endless  roll, 
in  short,  of  varying  radius,  that  over  the  small  of 
the  back  being  considerably  the  greatest.  The  top 
of  the  skirt  is  tucked  in  all  round,  instead  of  being 
directly  on  the  skin,  as  farther  south.  In  further 
proof  of  the  local  civilization,  the  women  wear  false 


11 


2-0  § 

ill 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.          231 

• 
hair.     One   matron   was   obliging   enough   to   undo 

her  coiffure  for  our  benefit,  and  held  out  by  its  end, 
for  our  admiring  inspection,  a  mighty  wisp  nearly 
three  feet  long.  She  put  it  back  on  for  us  after 
the  manner,  as  I  have  since  been  informed,  of  a 
coronet  braid.  The  men  gave  fewer  evidences  of 
civilization,  unless  smoking  cigars  in  holders  will 
serve.  However,  one  man  brought  up  his  wife  and 
children  and  regularly  introduced  them  to  us,  the 
woman  doing  her  part  with  great  coolness,  while  the 
children  gave  every  sign  of  terror.  This  incident 
struck  me  as  being  very  unusual.  Everyone  had  on 
at  least  one  necklace,  and  some  three  or  four  neck- 
laces, of  dog-teeth,  of  agate  beads  (these  being  im- 
mensely prized,  agate  not  being  native  to  the  Phil- 
ippines), or  of  anything  else  the  form,  color,  and 
hardness  of  which  could  make  it  answer  for  pur- 
poses of  ornament.  One  young  woman  had  on 
sleigh-bells,  the  tinkle  of  which  we  heard  before  we 
saw  its  source,  an  incongruous  sound  in  those  parts. 
These  bells  must  have  been  brought  down  by  Chi- 
nese trading  from  the  plains  of  Manchuria.  Two 
or  three  young  men  displayed  what  looked  like 
lapis  lazuli  around  their  necks,  but  what  turned  out 
at  closer  quarters  to  be  pieces  of  a  blue  china  dinner- 
plate.  They  had  cut  out  the  white  interior  and 
then  divided  the  rim  radially,  the  jewels  thus  formed 


232          The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

0 

being  all  of  the  same  size  and  shape,  with  perfectly 
smooth  edges.  Here,  too,  were  the  same  pill-box 
hats  as  those  seen  at  Bontok,  some  elaborately 
beaded  and  costing  from  one  to  five  carabaos  apiece ; 
in  one  case  the  lid  of  a  tomato  tin  had  been  pressed 
into  service  as  a  hat.  But  the  finest  thing  of  all 
was  the  head-ax,  a  beautiful  and  cruel-looking  weap- 
on, the  head  having  on  one  side  an  edge  curving 
back  toward  the  shaft,  and  on  the  other  a  point. 
To  keep  the  weapon  from  slipping  out  of  the  hand, 
a  stud  is  left  in  the  hard  wood  shaft,  about  two- 
thirds  of  the  way  from  the  head,  the  shaft  itself 
being  protected  by  a  steel  sheathing  half  way  down ; 
the  remainder  being  ornamented  with  decorative 
brass  plates  and  strips,  and  the  end  shod  in  a  ferrule 
of  silver.  The  top  of  the  ax  is  not  straight,  but 
curved,  both  edge  and  point  taking,  as  it  were, 
their  origin  in  this  curve;  the  edge  is  formed  by  a 
double  chamfer,  the  ax-blade  being  of  uniform  thick- 
ness. All  together,  this  weapon  is  perhaps  more  or- 
iginal and  characteristic  than  any  other  native  to 
the  Philippine  Archipelago.  With  it  goes  the  Ka- 
linga  shield  of  soft  wood,  made  in  one  piece,  with 
the  usual  three  horns  or  projections  at  the  top  and 
two  at  the  bottom.  These  projections,  however, 
are  cylindrical,  and  the  outside  ones  are  continued 
down  the  edge  of  the  shield  and  so  form  ribs.  In 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.          233 

the  ordinary  Igorot  shield  the  horns  are  flat,  merely 
prolonging  the  surface  of  the  shield,  or  else  present- 
ing only  a  very  small  relief.  As  usual,  a  lacing  of 
bejuco  across  top  and  botton  protects  the  shield 
against  a  separation  in  the  event  of  an  unlucky 
stroke  splitting  it  in  two. 

We  found  the  town  unusually  clean.  Public 
latrines  exist,  and  public  drinking-tanks,  both  put 
in  by  Governor  Hale,  and  highly  approved  of  the 
people.  The  houses  themselves  were  the  best  we 
had  seen,  some  of  them  hexagonal  in  ground  plan, 
and  built  of  hard  woods.  The  pigs  stay  under- 
neath, to  be  sure,  but  their  place  is  kept  clean.  Rich 
men  have  rows  of  plates,  the  dinner-plates  of  civ- 
ilization, all  around  their  houses,  and  take-up  floors 
of  split  bamboo  are  common,  being  rolled  up  and 
washed  in  the  neighboring  stream  with  commend- 
able frequency.  All  together,  Lubuagan  made  the 
impression  of  an  affluent,  not  to  say  opulent,  center, 
inhabit ated  by  a  brave,  proud,  and  self-respecting 
people. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 


We  leave  the  mountains. — Nanong. — Passage  of  the  Chico. — The 
Apayao. — Tabuk. — The  party  breaks  up. — Desolate  plain. — 
The  Cagayan  Valley. — Enrile. 

The  morning  of  Friday,  May  i3th,  broke  clear 
after  a  night  of  hard  rain.  We  set  off  before  sun- 
rise, our  way  now  taking  us  eastward  for  the  last 
stage  of  the  mountain  journey  proper.  The  whole 
earth  this  morning  seemed  to  be  a-drip:  every 
stream  was  rushing,  and  banks  of  cloud,  fog,  and 
mist  crowned  the  heights  and  filled  the  valleys.  To 
describe  even  approximately  our  course  as  we  de- 
scended from  the  great  terrace  of  Lubuagan  is  well- 
nigh  impossible;  but,  as  we  came  down,  scene  after 
scene  of  the  greatest  beauty  offered  itself  to  our 
admiration.  The  landscape  softened  too;  we  were 
leaving  the  high  mountain  land  behind  us,  not  too 
suddenly,  however;  for  example,  at  one  point  a 
huge  valley  lay  below  us,  bounded  on  the  other  side 
by  a  tremendous  vertical  wall  of  rock,  over  which 
fell  a  powerful  stream.  I  estimated  the  fall  at  the 
time  as  at  least  four  hundred  feet. 

In  due  course  we  came  to  an  affluent  of  our 
old  friend  the  Chico,  and  had  to  ford.  The  stream 

234 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.         235 

was  up,  but  we  got  over  without  mishap.  Fording 
is  always  a  delicate  operation  in  these  mountains 
after  a  hard  rain,  since  no  one  can  ever  tell  what 
the  nature  of  the  footing  will  be,  because  of  the 
boulders  swept  down.  On  this  occasion  Evans's  pony 
stopped  short  in  mid-stream,  refusing  either  to  move 
on  or  back.  There  was  nothing  for  it  but  dis- 
mount and  investigate,  Evans  discovering  that  his 
pony  had  put  one  foot  down  between  two  large 
stones  close  together  and  so  was  simply  caught  fast. 
The  country  had  now  become  decidedly  more 
open;  the  trail  for  long  stretches  was  almost  a  road. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  we  were  on  the  old  main  line 
of  communication  from  the  highlands  to  the  Ca- 
gayan  Valley.  We  made  our  first  halt  at  Nanong, 
where  everybody  brought  in  gifts  of  chickens,  eggs, 
and  camotes,  and  received  beads,  red  cloth,  pins  and 
needles  in  return.  What  made  a  particular  impres- 
sion here  was  the  number  of  children  brought  in,  all 
wide-eyed,  sloe-eyed,  and  some  of  them  extremely 
pretty.  The  remainder  of  the  day  we  spent  go- 
ing down  the  left  bank  of  the  Chico,  encountered 
again  at  Nanong.  Shortly  after  leaving  this  point 
two  large  monkeys,  brown  with  white  breasts,  ap- 
peared on  the  edge  of  the  trail,  apparently  protest- 
ing with  the  utmost  indignation  against  our  presence 
in  those  parts.  Harris  remarked  that  once  passing 


236          The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

this  point  alone  he  had  run  into  eighteen  of  them, 
and  that  for  a  time  he  thought  they  were  going  to 
dispute  his  passage.  These  were  the  only  animals 
we  saw  on  the  whole  trip,  not  counting  a  few  birds. 
The  valley  opened  hereabouts,  and  on  the  other 
bank,  the  right,  a  sharp-edged  terrace  came  into 
view,  fully  three  hundred  feet  above  the  river  and 
continuing  for  miles  as  far  as  the  eye  could  see. 
This  must  be  an  unusually  good  example  of  river 
terrace.  On  our  side  the  trail  was  cut  out  of  the 
cliff,  solid  rock,  with  a  straight  drop  to  the  river 
below,  a  stretch  of  two  of  the  hottest  miles  con- 
ceivable, what  with  the  full  blaze  of  the  sun  and  the 
heat  radiated  and  reflected  from  the  face  of  the 
cliff.  I  was  so  weak  from  the  water  I  had  drunk 
the  other  day  that  I  dismounted  and  walked  the 
whole  way,  so  that,  if  knocked  out  by  the  heat,  I 
should  at  least  not  fall  off  my  pony;  a  tumble  on 
the  wrong  side  would  have  brought  the  journey  to 
a  very  sudden  end.  But,  fortunately,  nothing  hap- 
pened, and  we  at  last  got  down  to  the  level  of  the 
river  again,  only  to  find  it  half  in  flood  and  fording 
out  of  the  question.  We  were  on  the  upstream  side 
of  a  huge  dome  of  rock,  rising  from  the  river  itself, 
the  only  way  around  which  was  to  cross  twice.  The 
rest  of  the  party  coming  up  with  the  cargadores,  we 
had  to  wait  until  bamboo  rafts  could  be  built,  the 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.          237 

raft  really  being  nothing  but  a  flat  bundle  lashed 
together  with  bejuco.  In  this  case  our  rafts  were 
so  small  that  under  the  weight  of  only  one  man  and 
his  kit  they  immediately  became  submarines,  so 
that  one  got  partially  wet  crossing.  Our  horses  and 
ponies  were  swum  over. 

We  were  six  hours  making  the  two  passages; 
still  we  were  in  luck,  for  had  the  stream  been  really 
up,  we  should  simply  have  had  to  camp  on  its  bank 
and  wait  for  the  waters  to  fall,  a  fate  that  sometimes 
overtakes  the  traveller  in  a  country  where  an  inno- 
cent stream  may  become  a  raging  torrent  almost 
while  one  is  looking  at  it. 

We  slept  that  night  in  a  rest-house  just  across 
the  river  from  Tabuk,  and  next  morning  the  party 
divided,  Mr.  Worcester,  Dr.  Strong,  Governor  Pack, 
and  Lieutenant-Governor  Villamor  to  continue  the 
mountain  trip  into  Apayao,  while  the  remainder  of 
us,  having  been  invited  to  accompany  Mr.  Wor- 
cester only  as  far  as  Tabuk,  went  on  to  the  Cagayan 
River.  It  may  be  of  interest,  however,  to  say  a 
few  words  here  about  the  Apayao  country,  my  au- 
thority being  the  "  Seventh  Annual  Report  of  the 
Secretary  of  the  Interior  to  the  Philippine  Com- 
mission" for  the  fiscal  year  1907-1 90**. 

This  country  was  first  visited  by  Mr.  Worces- 
ter in  1906,  the  Spanish  Government  never  having 


238          The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

succeeded  in  gaining  a  foothold  in  it.  "  During  the 
insurrection  Lieutenant  Gilmore,  of  the  United  States 
Navy,  and  his  fellow-captives  were  taken  into  the 
southern  part  of  it  and  there  abandoned."  "So  far 
as  is  known,  no  white  man  had  ever  penetrated 
the  southern  and  central  portions  of  Apayao  until" 
Mr.  Worcester,  suitably  accompanied  and  escorted, 
crossed  the  Cordillera,  in  1906,  from  North  Ilokos. 
A  later  expedition,  commanded  by  a  Constabulary 
officer,  was  attacked,  not  necessarily  from  any  hos- 
tility to  it  as  such,  but  because  it  was  accompanied 
by  natives  hostile  to  a  rancheria  ( Guenned )  ap- 
proached on  the  way.  A  punitive  expedition,  led 
by  the  same  officer,  afterward  met  with  some  suc- 
cess, but  American  popularity  suffered  in  conse- 
quence. The  Apayao  country  is  the  only  sub- 
province  under  a  native  Governor,  and  its  Governor, 
Senor  Bias  Villamor,  is  the  only  Filipino  that  has 
ever  shown  any  interest  in  or  sympathy  for  the 
highlanders.  His  task  has  been  a  difficult  one;  for 
example,  his  only  line  of  communication,  the  Abu- 
lug  River,  runs  through  a  territory  inhabited  by 
Negritos,  who  had  been  so  abused  by  the  Christian 
natives  on  the  one  hand,  and  whose  heads  had  been 
so  diligently  sought  by  the  wild  Tinguians  of  the 
mountains,  on  the  other,  that  they  had  acquired  the 
habit  of  greeting  strangers  with  poisoned  arrows.  His 


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The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.          241 

mountain  region  itself  was  inhabited  by  inveterate 
head-hunters,  most  of  whom  had  never  even  seen 
a  white  man.  Conditions  are  improving,  however; 
the  raids  against  the  Christian  and  Negrito  inhab- 
itants of  the  lowlands  of  Cagayan  have  been  com- 
pletely checked,  and  Mr.  Worcester  hopes  that  head- 
hunting will  diminish.^  It  still  exists.  Strong  told 
me,  on  his  return  to  Manila,  that,  looking  into  a 
head-basket  after  leaving  Tabuk,  he  found  in  it 
fresh  fragments  of  a  human  skull;  for  the  Apayaos 
take  the  skull  like  the  other  highlanders,  but  un- 
like them,  break  it  into  pieces.  But  with  these  peo- 
ple head-hunting  is  a  part  of  their  religious  belief, 
and  so  all  the  harder  to  uproot.  With  the  others 
it  is  a  matter  of  vengeance,  or  else  even  of  sport. 
"On  the  other  hand,  the  people  of  Apayao  have 
many  good  qualities.  They  are  physically  well- 
developed  and  are  quite  cleanly.  They  erect  beau- 
tifully constructed  houses.  Their  women  are  well 
clothed,  and  both  men  and  women  love  handsome 
ornaments.  They  are  quite  industrious  agricultur- 
ists and  are  now  begging  for  seed  and  for  domes- 
tic animals  in  order  that  they  may  emulate  their 
Christian  neighbors  in  the  raising  of  agricultural 
products." 

Of  course  we  should  have  been  very  glad  to 
go  on  with  Mr.  Worcester  into  the  Apayao  country 


242          The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

if  he  had  asked  us;  but  it  is  practically  trailless  as 
yet,  and  for  a  party  as  large  as  ours  would  have 
been,  questions  of  supply  and  transportation  would 
have  been  difficult,  to  say  nothing  of  the  impolicy 
of  taking  a  large  number  into  the  country  at  all. 
And  so,  on  Saturday  morning,  May  i4th,  we  shook 
hands  with  Mr.  Worcester  and  his  companions.  His 
progress  so  far  had  been  an  unqualified  success,  un- 
marred  by  a  single  adverse  incident,  for  the  deplor- 
able loss  of  life  at  Kiangan  could  in  no  wise  be  at- 
tributed to  our  presence  or  to  the  occasion.  What 
the  results  of  the  visit  of  1910  will  be,  only  time  can 
tell;  but  experience  shows  that  every  year  marks 
an  advance  in  the  spread  of  friendly  relations,  not 
only  between  the  Government  and  the  people,  but 
between  the  subdivisions  of  the  people  itself.* 

The  Chico  being  still  up  when  we  reached  it, 
we  crossed  again  on  submarines,  climbed  the  bank, 
and  found  ourselves  in  Tabuk  (or  Talbok),  the  most 

*For  example,  this  year  (1912)  more  people  "came  in"  to  meet 
Mr.  Worcester  then  ever  before.  In  Bontok  every  valley  of  the 
sub- province  was  represented,  and  there  was  a  time  when  represent- 
atives of  all  the  villages  danced  together  on  the  plaza,  an  event  of 
importance  in  the  history  of  these  people  as  marking  the  passing  of 
old  feuds  and  a  determination  to  live  at  piece  with  one  another.  A 
moving  picture  machine  was  taken  along  in  a  four-wheeled  wagon 
(showing  incidentally  that  the  main  trails  have  become  roads  since 
1910),  and  created  both  enthusiasm  and  alarm :  enthusiasm  when 
some  familiar  scene  with  known  living  persons  was  thrown  upon  the 
screen,  and  alarm  when  a  railway  train,  for  example,  was  shown  ad- 
vancing upon  the  spectators,  causing  many  of  them  to  flee  for 
safety  to  the  neighboring  hills  and  woods. 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.          243 

pestilential  hole  in  the  Archipelago.  Nothing  is  left 
of  it  now  but  a  ruinous  church  and  one  or  two  houses. 
The  first  mass  was  said  here  or  hereabouts  in  1689, 
by  the  Dominicans,  who  kept  up  the  mission  until 
the  monks  all  died  of  fever.  Did  an  occasional 
officer  in  the  old  days  prove  objectionable  to  the 
authorities  in  Manila,  he  got  an  order  to  proceed 
to  Tabuk  for  station;  it  was  almost  certain  that  he 
would  never  return.  The  point  is  of  unquestionable 
importance,  commanding,  as  it  does,  the  main  out- 
let of  the  Kalinga  country  to  the  plains  of  the  Ca- 
gayan  Valley;  and  so  our  own  Government  under- 
took to  garrison  it  with  Constabulary  as  a  check  on 
raids.  The  garrison  remained  long  enough  to  be 
carried  out  on  stretchers,  and  was  removed  to  Lu- 
bagan,  where  the  check  is  just  as  complete  and  per- 
sonal control  possible. 

We  had  a  long  and  hard  day  before  us,  but  we 
did  not*  know  it  when  we  set  out  from  Tabuk  at 
about  seven  in  the  morning.  Gallman,  Harris,  and 
I  kept  together;  our  first  business  was  to  cross  a 
vast,  roughly  circular  plain  fifteen  miles  in  diameter, 
and  densely  overgrown  with  a  rough,  reedy  grass 
two  feet  and  more  high.  A  foot-path  ran  across  the 
plain,  visible  for  only  a  very  short  distance  ahead 
as  long  as  one  was  in  it,  but  imperceptible  twenty 
yards  to  the  right  or  left.  To  lose  this  path  would 


244         The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

have  been  a  serious  matter,  as  it  would  have  been 
a  heart-breaking  thing  to  force  one's  way  through 
the  undisturbed  grass. 

It  would  be  hard  to  imagine  anything  else  more 
wearisome  than  that  fifteen-mile  stretch.  The  sun 
was  riding  high  in  the  heavens,  "  shining  on  both 
sides  of  the  hill";  not  a  breath  of  wind  was  stirring 
nor  was  there,  barring  a  rare  bird  or  two,  a  sign  of 
life  save  the  thousands  of  flies  which,  as  our  ponies 
pushed  aside  the  grass  overhanging  the  path,  rose  in 
clouds  only  to  settle  on  our  faces,  hands,  necks,  backs, 
everywhere.  We  began  by  brushing  them  off,  but  it 
was  of  no  use,  and  so  we  rode  with  our  faces  turned  to 
a  dim  haze  of  low  mountains  bounding  the  plain  on 
the  east,  and  themselves  dominated  by  still  an- 
other range,  the  Sierra  Madre,  so  distant  as  to  look 
like  a  bank  of  immovable  blue  cloud.  For  miles 
our  plodding  seemed  to  bring  them  no  nearer.  If 
we  could  only  get  out  of  that  sea  of  olive-gray  grass, 
on  which  the  heavy,  stifling  air  seemed  to  press,  and 
reach  those  nearer  mountains!  Twice  the  path  led 
us  into  sinks  or  depressions  fully  ninety  or  one  hun- 
dred feet  below  the  level  of  the  plain;  why  these 
could  not  have  been  avoided  when  the  path  was 
first  struck  out  is  hard  to  imagine,  unless  it  was 
to  get  to  water.  For  one  of  these  sinks  boasted  of  a 
clear,  bold  stream  with  all  of  its  course  underground 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.          245 

save  the  part  in  the  depression.  In  both  were  full- 
grown  trees  and  grateful  shade.  Had  we  not  been 
pressed  to  get  through,  it  would  have  been  interest- 
ing to  explore  these  huge  sinks;  but  we  passed  on, 
the  flies,  which  had  abandoned  us  on  our  descent, 
rejoining  us  when  we  climbed  out  on  the  other  side. 
In  time  we  reached  our  mountains,  arid,  bare,  eroded, 
wind-bitten,  and  made  our  way  slowly  and  pain- 
fully up  and  through  the  pass,  our  trail  hereabouts 
being  nothing  but  a  trench  so  deep  and  narrow 
that  part  of  the  way  we  could  not  keep  our  feet  in 
the  stirrups.  As  we  neared  the  crest  of  the  range 
the  pass  disappeared,  and  for  the  last  half-mile  or 
so  we  attacked  the  ridge  directly.  When  we  got 
to  the  top,  we  found  a  gallant  breeze  blowing,  and, 
spreading  out  before  us,  the  vast  plains  of  the  Ca- 
gayan  Valley.  Far  over  in  the  east,  and  apparently 
no  nearer  than  ever,  rose  the  blue,  cloud-like  mount- 
ains of  the  Sierra  Madre,  now  showing  like  a  wall, 
which  indeed  they  are,  and  one  which  no  man  has 
so  far  succeeded  in  scaling.  But  not  a  sign  of  life, 
of  man  or  beast,  caught  our  eye.  And  yet  this  val- 
ley is  an  empire  in  itself;  its  axial  stream,  the  Rio 
Grande  de  Cagayan,  or  Ibanag,  the  "Philippine 
Tagus"  of  the  ancient  chronicles,  the  longest  river 
of  the  Archipelago,  by  overflowing  its  banks  every 
year,  renews  the  fertility  of  the  soil  wherever  its 


246         The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

waters  can  reach.  We  stood  here  on  the  ridge  a 
long  time,  resting  and  looking.  Below  us  green  rib- 
bons, following  the  undulations  of  the  plain,  marked 
the  trail  of  various  water-courses;  but,  apart  from 
this  evidence  of  Nature's  living  forces,  somehow  or 
other  the  entire  landscape  was  silent  and  desolate. 
We  now  began  the  descent,  leading  our  ponies, 
for  it  was  too  steep  to  ride,  and  at  last  came  to  a 
stream  where  we  found  shade  and  grass,  and,  better 
yet,  the  advance  guard  of  the  party  with  food  and 
drink  ready.  Our  next  stage  was  over  rolling  coun- 
try, covered  with  fine  short  grass;  once  over  this, 
the  ground  broke  in  our  front,  and  we  made  the 
descent,  finally  coming  out  on  the  lowest  floor  of  the 
valley  at  Enrile,  two  or  three  miles  from  the  river. 
Night  was  falling  as  we  made  our  way  through  its 
grass-grown  streets,  finding  the  air  heavy,  the  people 
dull-looking,  and  everything  commonplace:  we  had 
already  begun  to  miss  our  mountains. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 


Tobacco  industry. — Tuguegarao. — Caves. — The  Cagayan  River. — 
Barangayans. — Aparri. — Island  of  Fuga. — Sail  for  Manila. — 
Stop  at  Vigan. — Arrival  at  Manila. 

The  great  valley  in  which  we  now  found  our- 
selves really  deserves  more  notice  than  perhaps  it 
is  suitable  to  give  it  here.  As  everyone  knows,  it 
furnishes  the  best  tobacco  of  the  Islands,  tobacco 
that  under  proper  care  would  prove  a  dangerous 
rival  to  that  of  Cuba,  though  it  can  never  quite 
equal  the  product  of  the  Vuelta  Abajo.  The  cattle 
industry  should  prosper  here — in  fact,  did  a  few 
years  ago;  the  broad  savannas,  some  of  which  we 
had  crossed,  furnishing  excellent  pasturage.  It  was 
proved  long  ago  that  this  region  was  naturally 
adapted  to  the  culture  of  silk  and  to  the  raising  of 
indigo  and  sugar-cane.  While  tobacco  was  a  Gov- 
ernment monopoly,*  the  valley  was  wealthy,  traces 
of  wealth  being  still  found  in  the  hands  of  the  peo- 
ple under  the  form  of  jewels,  some  of  them  costly 
and  beautiful. 


*For  an  account  of  what  this  Government  monopoly  really 
meant,  see  Jagor,  "Travels,"  etc.,  p.  324.  A  Spaniard  of  my  ac- 
quaintance told  me  that  if  a  native's  attention  to  his  crop  did  not 
please  the  inspectors,  they  would  cause  him  to  be  publicly  flogged 
on  Sunday  before  the  church  after  mass;  and  if  this  course  brought 


247 


248         The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

The  passage  of  the  Payne  bill  has  already 
brightened  the  prospects  of  the  people,  and  espe- 
cially of  the  small  growers,  for  prices  paid  on  the 
spot  have  already  gone  up  very  considerably.  The 
valley  is  sure  to  flourish  before  many  years  shall 
have  passed,  and  nothing  else  would  so  much  hasten 
this  end  as  the  completion  of  the  railway  from  Ma- 
nila, But  when  we  passed  through,  a  sort  of  gen- 
eral apathy  seemed  to  fill  the  air:  the  people  were 
listless,  and  so  much  of  the  tobacco  crop  as  we 
could  see  looked  neglected.  A  partial  explanation 
is  to  be  found  in  the  belief,  wide-spread  in  these 
parts  at  this  time,  that  the  comet  had  come  to  mark 
the  end  of  all  things,  and  that  any  work  done  would 
be  wasted.  This  belief,  however,  did  not  check  the 
native  and  courteous  hospitality  of  the  people;  all 
of  us  were  taken  in  for  the  night,  Evans  and  I  go- 
ing to  Senor  Cipriano  Pagulayan's,  where  we  found 
an  excellent  dinner  awaiting  us — in  particular,  coffee 
of  superlative  excellence.  Don  Cipriano  was  very 

no  amendment,  they  would  then  cut  his  stand  down.  Jagor,  who 
travelled  in  the  Philippines  as  long  ago  as  1859-60,  could  see  no 
future  for  them  save  under  American  control,  and  he  predicted 
that  this  control  would  come,  an  astonishing  prophecy.  "In  pro- 
portion as  the  navigation  of  the  west  coast  of  America  extends  the 
influence  of  the  American  element  over  the  South  Sea,  the  capti- 
vating, magic  power  which  the  great  Republic  exercises  over  the 
Spanish  colonies  will  not  fail  to  make  itself  felt  also  in  the  Philip- 
pines. The  Americans  are  evidently  destined  to  bring  to  a  full 
development  the  germs  originated  by  the  Spaniards."  ("Travels 
in  the  Philippines,"  p.  369.)  Jagor's  work,  it  may  be  remarked, 
will  always  remain  an  authority  on  the  Philippines. 


a 


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Photograph  by  Stockbridge. 

2.  Igorot  Shield  (from  Lubuagan),  defaced  and  scarred  by  cuts 

from  a  head-ax,  received  in  a  fight  about  March,  1910.  The 
man  behind  this  shield,  a  Kalinga  policeman,  was  sent  out 
to  bring  in  an  escaped  prisoner.  The  prisoner  showed  fight 
and  was  killed. 

3.  Usual  form  of  Igorot  Shield. 

4.  Typical  Kalinga  Shield. 


The  Plead  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.          251 

modest  about  it,  explaining  that  the  coffee  had  been 
roasted  only  after  our  arrival  and  ground  just  before 
it  was  set  on;  but  none  the  less  it  was  admirable. 
Now,  this  coffee,  of  course,  was  grown  in  the  valley, 
and  there  is  no  reason  why  its  cultivation  should  not 
be  taken  up  on  a  large  scale  for  export. 

Enrile  held  us  only  for  the  night.  The  next 
morning  we  all  mounted,  alas!  for  the  last  time,  and, 
escorted  by  a  great  number  of  local  magnates,  took 
the  road  for  the  river.  Here  we  left  our  mounts  to 
Doyle,  who  was  to  return  with  them  to  Baguio. 
It  was  with  great  regret  that  I  parted  from  Bubud : 
he  had  carried  me  faithfully  and  well,  and  I  shall 
not  soon  forget  his  saucy  head,  looking  after  us  as 
we  got  down  the  bank  to  go  on  board  the  motor- 
launch  of  the  Tabacalera.* 

In  a  few  minutes  we  had  crossed  and  landed  at 
Tuguegarao,  the  capital  of  the  province,  and  still 
retaining  traces  of  its  wealth  and  importance  in  the 
great  days  of  the  tobacco  monopoly.  It  has  an 
imposing  church  built  of  brick,  a  hospital,  and  a 
Dominican  college,  all  of  substantial  construction; 
its  streets  are  broad  and  well  laid  out,  but  of  the 
town  itself  not  much  can  be  said,  as  a  fire  swept  off 

*  The  cable  and  popular  name  of  the  "Compania  General 
de  Tabacos  de  Filipinas";  it  owns  plantations  up  the  Grande  in 
Isabela  Province. 


252          The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

most  of  it  a  few  years  ago.  Still  Filipino  towns  rise 
easily  from  the  ashes,  and  there  is  no  reason  why 
prosperity  should  not  again  smile  upon  this  ancient 
borough. 

We  tarried  two  or  three  days  in  Tuguegarao, 
waiting  for  river  transportation  and  meanwhile  great- 
ly enjoying  the  hospitality  so  generously  shown  us. 
Major  Knauber,  of  the  Constabulary,  and  Mr.  Just- 
ice Campbell,  of  the  Court  of  First  Instance,  invited 
me  to  stay  with  them  in  a  fine  old  Spanish  house 
they  had  together.  Every  evening  Herr  -  — ,  of  the 
-  Company,  had  us  to  dinner  in  his  beautiful 
bungalow.  At  a  grand  baile  given  us  the  day  after 
our  arrival,  Heiser  asked  me  if  I  had  not  dined  that 
day  and  the  day  before  at  Herr  -  — 's;  on  my  say- 
ing yes,  he  laughed  and  remarked  that  he  had  just 
taken  up  his  cook  as  a  leper  to  be  sent  to  the  leper 
hospital  on  the  Island  of  Culion.  But  in  the  East 
nobody  bothers  about  a  thing  like  that. 

Tuguegarao  is  a  point  of  departure  for  some 
interesting  trips,  notably  one  to  some  limestone 
caves,  larger  than  the  Mammoth  Cave  of  Kentucky. 
In  one  of  these  caves,  receiving  light,  air,  and  moist- 
ure from  fissures  in  the  natural  surface  of  the  ground, 
palms  (cocoa  and  other) ,  bamboos,  and  other  plants 
and  trees  are  growing  in  natural  miniature.  I  was 
told  that  this  cave  was  fascinating  and  that  I  ought 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.          253 

to  go  and  see  it.  But  time  was  pressing ;  although  the 
commanding  General  had  set  no  limit  on  my  ab- 
sence, I  felt  I  ought  now  to  return.  Accordingly, 
on  the  morning  of  the  i8th,  our  transportation  be- 
ing ready,  Mr.  Justice  Campbell  and  I  went  aboard 
a  motor-launch  and  set  out  for  Aparri,  at  the  mouth 
of  the  river. 

All  river  trips  here  in  the  East  have  an  interest ; 
this  one  proved  no  exception  to  the  general  rule, 
though  it  presented  nothing  especially  worthy  of 
record.  But  the  Rio  Grande  is  the  great  road  of 
the  Valley,  to  such  an  extent,  indeed,  that  there  are 
no  land  roads  to  speak  of.  We  passed  between  low, 
muddy  banks,  frequently  of  uncertain  disposition, 
as  though  wondering  how  much  longer  they  could 
possibly  resist  the  wash  of  the  current.  The  stream 
itself  is  shallow,  uncharted,  unbeaconed;  its  nav- 
igation requires  constant  attention,  which  it  cer- 
tainly got  this  day  from  our  quartermaster,  who 
remained  on  duty  for  ten  consecutive  hours.  We 
had  the  ill-luck  not  to  see  a  single  crocodile,  al- 
though the  river  is  said  to  be  full  of  them,  all  of 
ferocious  temper.  On  the  other  hand,  we  did  see 
the  oddest  possible  ferry :  a  bundle  or  raft  of  bamboo, 
with  chairs  on  top,  towed  across  stream  by  a  carabao 
regularly  hitched  up  to  it  and  getting  over  himself 
by  swimming.  This  he  does  on  an  even  keel,  his 


254          77**  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

backbone  being  entirely  out  of  the  water  when 
under  way. 

There  is  nothing  picturesque  about  the  lower 
reaches  of  the  Rio  Grande,  though  its  upper  course, 
through  hilly  country,  is  different  in  this  respect. 
The  remains  of  one  or  two  old  towns,  cut  in  two 
by  the  shift  of  the  river-bed,  excited  our  curiosity. 
So  'did,  from  to  time,  the  barangayans ,  or  native 
river-boats,  huge,  clumsy,  ill-built,  and  generally 
with  but  four  or  five  inches  of  free-board  amidships 
on  full  load.  These  craft  look  as  though  they  ought 
to  sink  by  mere  capillary  attraction.  However,  peo- 
ple are  born,  live,  and  die  aboard  of  them,  so  they 
must  be  safe  enough.  In  the  afternoon  the  river 
widened  and  its  right  bank,  anyway,  grew  bolder 
and  occasionally  more  permanent-looking,  and  fi- 
nally, about  an  hour  before  sunset,  we  perceived 
the  low  white  go-downs  of  Aparri.  We  landed  not 
at  a  wharf,  but  at  the  outer  edge  of  the  huddle  of 
craft  crowding  the  water  front,  and  put  up  at  the 
Fonda  de  Aparri,  having  done  eighty-odd  miles  in 
a  little  over  ten  hours. 

All  the  tobacco  of  the  Valley  reaches  the  world 
through  Aparri;  it  is  consequently  a  port  of  con- 
siderable importance.  But  it  has  no  safe  anchorage 
and  is  frightfully  exposed  to  typhoons,  all  of  which, 
if  they  do  not  pass  over  the  place  directly,  somehow 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.          255 

or  other  appear  to  step  aside  to  give  this  region  a 
blow.  There  is  a  never-ending  conflict  in  the  ad- 
jacent waters  between  the  currents  of  the  China 
Sea  and  those  of  the  Pacific,  making  navigation 
hazardous,  and  for  small  boats  perilous.  On  the 
day  of  our  arrival,  calm  and  fair  as  it  was,  a  tre- 
mendous surf  was  beating  on  the  bar,  the  spray  and 
foam  mounting  in  a  regular  wall  many  feet  high, 
and  driven  up,  not  by  the  gradual  attack  of  an  ad- 
vancing wave,  but  by  the  tireless  energy  of  angry 
waters  ceaselessly  beating  upon  the  same  spot. 

Of  Aparri  itself  little  can  be  said  here:  but, 
small  as  it  is,  it  has  nevertheless  the  bustle  of  all 
seaports  in  activity.  Many  of  its  streets  are  paved 
with  cobble-stones,  and  some  of  its  buildings  are, 
if  not  handsome,  at  least  substantial.  But  it  is 
cursed  with  flies:  in  our  inn,  otherwise  comfortable 
enough,  the  kitchen  and  the  temple  of  Venus  Cloa- 
cina  were  side  by  side.  The  flies  were  all  the  more 
annoying  that  we  had  seen  none  in  the  mountains, 
nor  indeed  do  I  recollect  ever  having  seen  them  in 
any  number  elsewhere  in  the  Archipelago  than  at 
Aparri  and  in  the  never-to-be-forgotten  plain  of  Ta- 
buk.  However,  we  survived  the  flies,  and  late  in 
the  afternoon  of  the  third  day  went  on  board  a 
Spanish  steamer  bound  for  Manila.  We  used  our 
cabin  to  stow  our  kit,  but  lived  and  slept  on  the  deck 


256         The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

of  the  poop,  the  main  deck  between  which  and  the 
forecastle  was  crowded  with  natives.  Poor  things! 
Each  family  appeared  to  have  an  area  assigned  to  it, 
on  which  were  piled  indiscriminately  all  its  earthly 
possessions  in  the  shape  of  clothes,  bags,  pots  and 
pans  generally ;  the  heap  once  formed,  its  owners  sat 
and  slept  on  it,  with  the  inevitable  family  rooster 
at  its  highest  point  lording  it  over  all.  In  fact, 
every  spot  on  the  main  deck  not  otherwise  occu- 
pied was  simply  filled  with  roosters,  all  challeng- 
ing one  another  night  and  day  by  indefatigable 
crowing.  As  illustrating  the  difficulties  of  navi- 
gation in  these  parts,  our  steamer  was  two  hours 
getting  out  of  the  river  and  across  the  bar,  a  mat- 
ter of  not  more  than  a  mile.  Once  out,  she  began 
to  roll  and  pitch  in  an  incomprehensible  manner, 
seeing  there  was  no  wind  and  no  sea.  It  was  sim- 
ply the  never-ending  contest  between  the  Pacific 
Ocean  and  the  China  Sea.  Once  fairly  in  the  lat- 
ter, she  behaved  steadily  enough. 

Our  journey  was  without  incident;  it  did  not, 
much  to  my  disappointment,  include  the  side  trip 
sometimes  made  to  the  Babuyanes  Islands  for 
cattle.  One  of  these  islands,  Fuga,  is  especially 
interesting;  urn-burial  prevailed  in  it  in  the  past, 
the  urns  in  some  cases  being  arranged  in  a  circle 
around  a  central  urn  or  altar.  Moreover,  there  is 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.          257 

in  Fuga  a  stone  building  known  as  the  "Castle," 
with  arched  doorways,  said  not  to  be  of  Span- 
ish origin,  and  near  by  is  a  plain  strewn  with 
human  skulls  and  other  bones,  probably  the  scene 
of  a  battle.  The  skulls  are  remarkable  from 
their  great  size,  some  of  them  being  reported  as 
extraordinary  in  this  respect.  The  present  inhab- 
itants of  these  islands  and  of  the  Batanes  live  in  stone 
houses,  much  like  those  of  North  Ireland  and  the 
islands  west  of  Scotland.*  And  so  we  had  hoped, 
Campbell  and  I,  that  we  might  get  at  least  a  look  at 
Fuga.  For,  although  it  lies  near  to  Aparri,  it  is  hard 
to  reach;  small  boats,  even  on  calm,  smooth  days,  be- 
ing occasionally  caught  in  the  wicked  currents  of 
these  waters  and  swamped  out  of  hand.  The  next 
morning  we  made  Kurrimao,  which  has  a  shore-line 
strikingly  picturesque  in  a  land  almost  surfeited 
with  the  picturesque.  We  stayed  long  enough  to 
take  on  a  number  of  carabaos,  which  were  swum  out 
to  the  ship,  and  then  hauled  out  of  the  water  by 
a  sling  passed  around  their  horns. 

Our  next  stop  was  at  Vigan,  a  well-built  town, 
many  of  whose  houses  are  of  stone.  We  reached 
the  town  in  a  motor-car,  passing  through  well  cul- 

*So  do  the  aborigines  of  Formosa.  "These  aborigines  of  the 
hills  live  in  villages.  Their  houses  are  built  of  stone,  roofed  with 
slate,  and  have  a  remarkably  clean,  home-like  appearance."  (Pick- 
ering, "Pioneering  in  Formosa,"  p.  69.) 


258         The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

tivated  fields  of  maguey.  The  mountains,  rising 
abruptly  from  the  coastal  plain,  are  here  cut  by 
the  famous  Abra  de  Vigan,  a  conspicuous  gap  serv- 
ing as  a  land-mark  to  the  mariner  for  miles.  And 
it  is  the  custom  to  take  a  ride  of  many  hours  up  the 
pass,  and  then  come  down  the  rapids  in  two,  on 
bamboo  rafts  built  for  the  purpose.  This  is  a  most 
exciting  trip;  alas!  we  had  to  be  contented  with  an 
account  of  it !  But  Vigan  itself  was  worth  the  trouble 
of  going  ashore;  its  churches  and  monasteries  are 
extensive,  dignified  of  appearance,  and  far  less  di- 
lapidated than  is  unfortunately  so  frequently  the 
case  elsewhere  in  the  Islands.  Not  the  least  inter- 
esting item  of  our  very  short  stay  was  a  visit  to  a 
new  house,  built  and  owned  by  an  Ilokano,  and 
equipped  with  the  most  recent  American  plumbing. 
The  house  itself  happily  was  after  the  old  Spanish 
plan,  the  only  one  really  suited  to  this  climate  and 
latitude.  But  then  the  Ilokanos  are  the  most  busi- 
nesslike and  thrifty  of  all  the  civilized  inhabitants: 
their  migration  to  other  parts,  a  movement  encour- 
aged of  long  date  by  the  Spanish  authorities,  is 
one  of  the  most  hopeful  present-day  signs  of  the 
Archipelago.  I  was  sorry  to  take  my  leave  of  Vi- 
gan; the  place  and  its  environs  seemed  full  of  in- 
terest. One  more  stop  we  made  at  San  Fernando  de 
Union  the  following  day,  a  clean-built  town,  but 


Photograph  by  Stockbridge 

Ifugao  Carved  Bowl,  stained  black.     Axes'of  larger 
Bowl,  4  and  5  inches  (inside). 


-     

Photograph  by  Slockbridge. 

Ifugao  Pipe,  of  brass;    length  of  stem,  6Jnches.     Wooden  Carved 

Sitting  Figure,  Ifugao,  3.5  inches  high.     Wooden  Spoon  with 

carved  handle;  earrings,  etc.,  of  brass  wire. 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.          261 

otherwise  of  no  special  characteristics.  Here  we  met 
an  officer  of  Constabulary  that  had  been  recently  sta- 
tioned at  Lubuagan,  who  told  us  of  coming  suddenly 
one  day  upon  a  fight  between  two  bodies  of  Kalingas, 
numbering  twenty  or  twenty-five  men  each,  and 
this  in  Lubuagan  itself.  According  to  our  ideas,  it 
was  no  fight  at  all,  the  champions  of  each  side  en- 
gaging in  single  combat,  while  the  rest  looked  on 
and  shouted,  waiting  their  turn.  One  man  had  al- 
ready been  killed,  his  headless  trunk  lying  on  the 
ground.  On  the  approach  of  the  officer  they  all 
ran.  Here,  too,  we  heard  from  another  Constab- 
ulary officer,  that  the  insurrectos  in  1898-1899  forced 
the  Igorots  to  carry  bells  and  other  loot  taken  from 
the  conventos  and  churches,  and  would  shoot  the  car- 
gadores  if  they  stumbled  or  fell,  or  could  go  no  farther 
under  the  weights  they  were  carrying. 

Twenty-four  hours  later  we  steamed  up  Manila 
Bay.     The  trip  was  over. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 


Future  of  the  Highlanders. — Origin  of  our  effort  to  improve  their 
condition. — Impolicy  of  any  change  in  present  administra- 
tion.— Transfer  of  control  of  wild  tribes  to  Christianized  Fili- 
pinos.— Comparison  of  our  course  with  that  of  the  Japanese 
in  Formosa. 

The  question  now  presents  itself :  What  is  to  be- 
come of  these  highlanders  of  Northern  Luzon?     And 
if  the  answer  to  be  given  is  here  applied  only  to 
them,  let  it  be  distinctly  understood  that  logically 
the  question  may  be  put  in  respect  of  all  the  wild 
people  of  the  Philippines.     Of  these  there  are  over 
one  million  in  a  total  population  of  perhaps  eight 
millions.     At  once  it  appears  that  any  conclusions 
we  may  draw,  any  speculations  we  may  cherish,  in 
respect  of  the  Archipelago,  as  being  inhabited  by  a 
Christian  people  unjustly  deprived  of  liberty  by  us, 
must  be  subject  to  a  very  large  and  important  cor- 
rection.    Limiting  our  inquiry  to  Luzon  alone,  let 
it  be  recollected  that  of  its  4,000,000  population 
nearly   four   hundred   thousand,    or   one-tenth,    are 
highlanders,  and  that  these  highlanders,  in  all  prob- 
ability,  arrived  in  the  Islands  at  an  earlier  date 
than   their   Christianized   cousins   of  the  lowlands. 
Let  us  recollect  further  that  these  people  are  eth- 

262 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.          263 

nologically  not  savages  at  all;  not  only  are  they 
workers  in  steel  and  wood,  weavers  of  cloth,  but 
hydraulic  agriculturists  of  the  very  highest  merit. 
On  the  side  of  moral  qualities  they  invite  our  ap- 
proving attention:  they  speak  the  truth,  they  look 
one  straight  in  the  eye,  they  are  hospitable,  cour- 
ageous, and  uncomplaining;  their  women  are  on  a 
footing  of  equality,  more  or  less,  with  the  men,  and 
are  respected  by  them.  Where  they  have  had 
an  opportunity,  they  have  shown  an  aptitude  to 
learn  of  no  mean  quality.  Physically  they  are  the 
best  people  of  the  Archipelago,  and  under  this  head 
would  be  remarkable  anywhere  else  in  the  world. 
Now,  the  Spaniards,  with  a  few  exceptions, 
made  no  systematic,  continuous  attempt  to  civilize 
these  peoples;  or,  if  they  did,  no  measurable  results 
have  come  down  to  our  own  day,  even  Villaverde's 
efforts,  genuine  as  they  were,  having  left  almost  no 
trace .  So  far  from  having  done  anything  for  the  hill- 
men,  the  record  of  the  Spanish  at  the  very  few  points 
garrisoned  by  them  is  one  of  injustice  and  robbery, 
and  worse.  That  of  the  Filipinos,*  in  imitation  of 

*The  word  "Filipino"  is  taken  to  mean  the  civilized,  Chris- 
tianized inhabitant  of  Malay  origin  of  the  Philippine  Islands.  As 
such,  it  is  convenient  and  useful.  It  should  be  recollected,  how- 
ever, that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  a  Filipino  people.  There  are 
Tagalogs,  Visayans,  Bicols,  Pampangans,  Ilokanos,  Cagayanes,  etc., 
etc.,  to  say  nothing  of  the  wild  people  themselves,  all  speaking 
different  languages;  but  these  can  not  be  said  to  form  one  people. 


264         The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

their  Spanish  masters,  is  no  better.  At  any  rate, 
when  we  took  over  the  Archipelago  in  1898,  a  vast 
area  of  Luzon  was  held  by  a  people  who  looked, 
and  justly,  so  far  as  their  experience  had  gone,  upon 
the  white  man  and  his  Filipino  understudy  as  an 
enemy.  The  difficulty  of  guiding  and  controlling 
these  people  undoubtedly  had  been  (and  still  is) 
great,  and  partly  accounts  for  the  state  of  affairs 
we  encountered  when  we  first  entered  the  country, 
but  it  was  necessarily  no  greater  for  our  prede- 
cessors in  the  Islands  than  it  has  been  for  us. 
Now,  where  they  failed,  we,  it  may  be  said  with- 
out fear  of  contradiction,  are  succeeding,  and  it 
is  but  the  simplest  act  of  justice  to  say  that 
the  credit  for  our  success  belongs  to  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Interior  of  the  Philippine  Islands,  Mr. 
Dean  C.  Worcester.  He  would  be  the  last  man 
on  earth  to  say  that  his  success  is  complete;  on  the 
contrary,  he  would  assert  that  a  very  great  quan- 
tity of  work  yet  remains  to  be  done,  and  that  what 
he  has  done  so  far  is  but  the  beginning.  But  it  is 
nevertheless  a  successful  beginning,  and  successful 
because  it  rests  on  the  solid  foundation  of  honesty 
and  fair  dealing,  and  is  inspired  by  interest  in  and 
sympathy  for  a  vast  body  of  people  universally 
hated  and  feared  by  the  Filipino,  and  until  lately 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.          265 

neglected  and  misunderstood  by  almost  everybody 
else. 

The  physical  difficulty  alone  of  reaching  these 
various  peoples  was  not  only  very  great,  but  mere 
presence  in  their  country  involved  great  risk  of  one's 
life.  Again,  the  absence  of  even  the  rudest  form 
of  tribal  organization  made  the  way  hard.  Take 
the  Ifugaos,  for  example,  about  120,000  in  number, 
all  speaking  essentially  the  same  language,  inhabit- 
ing the  same  country,  and  having  the  same  origins 
and  traditions.  Yet  this  large  body  was  and  is  yet 
broken  up  into  separate  rancherias,  or  settlements, 
each  formerly  hostile  to  all  the  others,  this  hostility 
being  so  great  that  merely  to  walk  into  a  neighbor- 
ing rancheria  in  plain  sight,  not  more  than  two  miles 
off  across  the  valley,  was  a  sure  way  to  commit 
suicide.  And  what  is  true  of  the  Ifugaos  is  true  of 
all  the  others.  Could  any  other  field  have  been  more 
unpromising,  have  offered  more  difficulties?  There 
were  those  thousands  of  savages  shut  up  in  their  all 
but  inaccessible  mountains.  Why  not  leave  them 
there,  to  take  one  another's  heads  when  occasion  of- 
fered ?  They  raised  nothing  but  rice  and  sweet  po- 
tatoes, anyway,  and  not  enough  of  those  to  keep 
from  going  hungry.  Why  concern  one's  self  about 
them,  when  there  was  already  so  much  to  be  done 
elsewhere  ? 


266         The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

To  Mr.  Worcester's  everlasting  honor,  be  it 
said,  he  took  no  such  view.  On  the  contrary,  he 
went  to  work,  and  that  after  a  simple  fashion,  but 
then,  all  great  things  are  simple !  The  first  thing  was 
to  see  the  people  himself;  and  then  came  the  be- 
ginning of  the  solution,  to  push  practicable  roads 
and  trails  through  the  country.  Once  these  estab- 
lished, communication  and  interchange  would  follow, 
and  the  way  would  be  cleared  for  the  betterment 
of  relations  and  the  removal  of  misunderstandings. 
Today  an  American  may  ride  through  the  country 
alone,  unarmed  and  unmolested;*  twenty  years  ago 
a  Spaniard  trying  the  same  thing  would  have  lost 
his  head  within  the  first  five  miles.  And  this  dif- 
ference is  fundamentally  due  to  the  fact,  already 
mentioned,  of  the  honesty  of  our  relations  with  these 
simple  mountaineers.  We  have  their  confidence  and 
their  esteem  and  their  respect,  and  this  in  spite  of  the 
necessity  under  which  our  authorities  have  constantly 
labored  of  punishing  them  when  necessary  and  of  in- 
sisting upon  law  and  order  wherever  our  jurisdiction 
prevails.  The  lesson  has  been  hard  to  learn,  but  it 
has  been  driven  home.  The  truth  of  the  matter  is, 
that  a  great  missionary  work  has  been  begun;  mis- 
sionary not  in  the  limited  sense  of  forcing  upon  the 

*Retana,  in  his  edition  (1909)  of  De  Morga  remarks  (p.  502): 
' '  To-day  there  would  not  be  many  to  dare  go  from  Manila  to 
Aparri  by  the  road  taken  by  the  Spaniards  in  1591." 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.          267 

understanding  of  a  yet  circumscribed  people  a  re- 
ligion unintelligible  to  them,  but  in  the  sense  of 
teaching  peace  and  harmony,  respect  for  order,  obe- 
dience to  law,  regard  for  the  rights  of  others. 

A  beginning  accordingly  has  been  made,  but 
what  is  to  be  the  end?  We  should  not  stay  for  an 
answer,  could  we  but  feel  sure  that  but  one  answer 
were  possible.  But  we  can  not  feel  sure  on  this 
head;  the  people  of  the  Islands,  whether  civilized 
or  uncivilized,  have  not  yet  gone  far  enough  to  pro- 
ceed alone.  To  drop  the  work  now,  nay,  to  lessen 
it,  would  merely  be  inviting  a  return  to  former  evil 
conditions.  No  greater  disaster  could  befall  these 
highlanders  to-day  than  a  change  entailing  a  dim- 
inution of  the  interest  and  sympathy  felt  for  them 
at  the  seat  of  government.  It  is  best  to  be  plain 
about  this  matter :  the  Filipinos  of  the  lowlands  dis- 
like the  highlander  as  much  as  they  fear  and  dread 
him.  They  apparently  can  not  bear  the  idea  that 
but  three  or  four  hundred  years  ago  they  too  were 
barbarians  ;*  for  this  reason  the  consideration  of  the 
highlander  is  distasteful  and  offensive  to  them.  The 
appropriations  of  the  Philippine  Assembly  for  the 

*Some  Igorots  brought  down  to  the  Manila  carnival  of  1912 
were  forced,  at  the  request  of  Filipino  authorities,  to  put  on  trous- 
ers. This  was  not  for  comfort's  sake,  no'-  yet  for  decency's,  for  the 
bare  human  skin  is  no  uncommon  sigh,  in  Manila.  Apparently, 
the  Filipinos  of  Manila  were  unwilling  to  let  the  world  note  that 
their  cousins  of  the  mountains  were  still  in  the  naked  state. 


268          The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

necessary  administration  of  the  Mountain  Province 
are  none  too  great;  they  would  cease  entirely  could 
the  Assembly  have  its  own  way  in  the  matter.  The 
system  of  communications,  so  well  begun  and  al- 
ready so  productive  of  happy  results,  would  come  to 
an  end.  To  turn  the  destiny  of  the  highlander  over 
to  the  lowlander  is,  figuratively  speaking,  simply  to 
write  his  sentence  of  death,  to  condemn  as  fair  a 
land  as  the  sun  shines  on  to  renewed  barbarism.  We 
are  shut  up  to  this  conclusion,  not  by  theoretical 
considerations,  but  by  experience.  The  matter  is 
worth  examining  a  little  closely,  covering,  as  it  does, 
not  only  the  hill  tribes,  but  non-Christians  every- 
where else. 

Certain  persons  have  demanded  from  time  to 
time  that  the  control  of  non-Christian  tribes  shall 
be  turned  over  to  the  Filipinos.  Now,  pointing  out 
in  passing  that  the  Filipinos  and  the  non-Christians 
are  distinct  peoples,  fully  as  distinct  as  the  Dutch 
and  the  Germans,  and  that  the  Filipinos  have  no 
just  claim  to  the  ownership  of  the  territory  occu- 
pied by  the  wild  men,  let  us  ask  ourselves  if  the 
Filipinos  are  able  and  fit  to  control  the  non-Christian 
tribes.* 


*For  a  full  discussion  of  this  entire  matter,  see  the  Report 
of  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  Philippine  Islands,  for  1910,  Wash- 
ington Government  Printing  Office,  191 1,  from  which  the  quotations 
given  above  are  taken. 


Photograph  by  Stockbridge. 

Carved  Wooden  Figurines,  Ifugao;  9  and  8.5  inches 
high,  respectively. 


100  MILES 


Drawn  by  Glassford. 

MAP  OF  NORTHERN  LUZON,  SHOWING  THE  MOUNTAIN  PROVINCE. 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.          271 

Consider  for  a  moment  the  facts  set  out  in  the 
following  extracts : 

"With  rare  exceptions,  the  Filipinos  are  pro- 
foundly ignorant  of  the  wild  men  and  their  ways. 
They  seem  to  have  failed  to  grasp  the  fact  that  the 
non-Christians,  who  have  been  contemptuously  re- 
ferred to  in  the  Filipino  press,  as  a  "few  thousand 
savages  asking  only  to  be  let  alone,"  number  ap- 
proximately a  million  and  constitute  a  full  eighth 
of  the  population  of  the  Archipelago." 

"The  average  hillman  hates  the  Filipinos  on 
account  of  the  abuses  which  his  people  have  suffered 
at  their  hands,  and  despises  them  because  of  their 
inferior  physical  development  and  their  compar- 
atively peaceful  disposition,  while  the  average  Fili- 
pino who  has  ever  come  in  close  contact  with  wild 
men  despises  them  on  account  of  their  low  social 
development,  and,  in  the  case  of  the  more  warlike 
tribes,  fears  them  because  of  their  past  record  for 
taking  sudden  and  bloody  vengeance  for  real  or 
fancied  wrongs." 

"It  is  impossible  to  avoid  plain  speaking  if 
this  question  is  to  be  intelligently  discussed;  and 
the  hard  fact  is,  that  wherever  the  Filipinos  have 
come  in  close  contact  with  the  non-Christian  in- 
inhabitants,  the  latter  have  almost  invariably  suf- 
fered at  their  hands  grave  wrongs,  which  the  more 


272          The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

warlike  tribes,  at  least,  have  been  quick  to  avenge. 
Thus  a  wall  of  prejudice  and  hatred  has  been  built 
up  between  the  Filipinos  and  the  non-Christian 
tribes.  It  is  a  noteworthy  fact  that  hostile  feeling 
toward  the  Filipinos  is  strong  even  among  people 
like  the  Tinguians  who,  barring  their  religious  be- 
liefs, are  in  many  ways  as  highly  civilized  as  are 
their  Ilocano  neighbors." 

"The  success  of  American  rule  over  the  non- 
Christian  tribes  of  the  Philippines  is  chiefly  due  to 
the  friendly  feeling  which  has  been  brought  about." 

' '  The  wild  man  has  now  learned  for  the  first  time 
that  he  has  rights  entitled  to  a  respect  other  than 
that  which  he  can  enforce  with  his  lance  and  his 
heaiLaxe.  He  has  found  justice  in  the  courts.  His 
property  and  his  life  have  been  made  safe,  and  the 
American  governor,  wha  punishes  him  sternly  when 
he  kills,  is  his  friend  and  protector  so  long  as  he 
behaves  himself." 

"Finally,  it  should  be  clearly  borne  in  mind 
that  the  Filipinos  have  been  given  an  excellent  op- 
portunity to  demonstrate  practically  their  interest 
in  the  non-Christians,  and  their  ability  wisely  to 
direct  the  affairs  of  primitive  peoples.  While  the 
inhabitants  of  the  Mountain  Province,  Nueva  Viz- 
caya,  Agusan,  and  the  Moro  Province  are  not  now 
subject  to  control  by  them,  and  the  inhabitants  of 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.          273 

Mindoro  and  Palawan  are  subject  to  their  control 
only  through  the  Philippine  Legislature,  there  are 
non- Christian  inhabitants  in  the  provinces  of  Caga- 
yan,  Isabela  [and  eighteen  others]. 

"At  the  outset,  these  governors  and  provincial 
boards  \i.  e.,  of  the  provinces  just  mentioned]  exer- 
cised over  their  non- Christian  constitu tents  precisely 
the  same  control  they  had  over  Filipinos.  To  the 
best  of  my  knowledge  and  belief,  not  one  single  im- 
portant measure  looking  to  the  betterment  of  the 
condition  of  these  non-Christian  inhabitants  was 
ever  inaugurated  by  a  Filipino  during  this  period. 
Indeed,  the  fact  that  no  expense  would  be  volun- 
tarily incurred  for  them  became  so  evident  as  to 
render  necessary  the  passage,  on  December  16,  1905," 
of  an  act  setting  aside  a  portion  of  the  public  rev- 
enues for  the  exclusive  benefit  of  the  non-Christians. 

"After  Apayao  was  established  as  a  sub-prov- 
ince of  Cagayan  and  the  duty  of  providing  funds 
for  the  maintenance  of  its  government  was  explicitly 
imposed  upon  the  provincial  board  of  that  prov- 
ince, the  governor  stated  to  me  that,  in  his  opinion, 
it  would  be  useless  to  make  the  necessary  expend- 
iture, and  that,  in  his  opinion,  it  would  be  better 
to  kill  all  the  savages  in  Apayao!  As  they  number 
some  52,000,  this  method  of  settling  their  affairs 


274         The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

would  have  been  open  to  practical  difficulties,  apart 
from  any  humanitarian  consideration!" 

"Contrast  with  this  record  of  inaction  and  lack 
of  interest  the  record  of  the  special  Government 
provinces*  and  the  Moro  Province,  where  dwell 
really  formidable  tribes,  which  have  until  recently 
engaged  in  piracy,  head-hunting,  and  murder.  Here 
very  extensive  lines  of  communication  have  been 
opened  up  by  the  building  of  roads  and  trails  and 
the  clearing  of  rivers.  A  good  state  of  public  order 
has  been  established.  Head-hunting,  slavery,  and 
piracy  are  now  very  rare.  The  liquor  traffic  has 
been  almost  completely  suppressed.  Life  and  prop- 
erty have  been  rendered  comparatively  safe,  and 
in  much  of  the  territory  entirely  so.  In  many  in- 
stances, the  wild  men  are  being  successfully  used  to 
police  their  own  country.  Agriculture  is  being  de- 
veloped. Unspeakably  filthy  towns  have  been  made 
clean  and  sanitary.  The  people  are  learning  to 
abandon  human  sacrifices  and  animal  sacrifices  and 
to  come  to  the  doctor  when  injured  or  ill.  Numerous 
schools  have  been  established  and  are  in  successful 
operation.  The  old  sharply  drawn  tribal  lines  are 
disappearing.  Bon  toe  Igorots,  Ifugaos,  and  Kalin- 
gas  now  visit  each  other's  territory.  At  the  same 
time  that  all  of  this  has  been  accomplished,  the 

*E.  g.,  the  Mountain  Province. — C.  De  W.  W. 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.          275 

good- will  of  the  people  themselves  has  been  secured. 
They  are  outspoken  in  their  appreciation  of  what 
has  been  done  for  them  and  in  their  expression  of 
the  wish  that  American  rule  should  continue.  They 
would  be  horror-stricken  at  the  thought  of  being 
turned  over  to  Filipino  control."* 

' '  So  far  as  concerns  the  warlike  tribes,  the  work 
for  their  advancement  thus  far  accomplished  would 
promptly  be  lost;  for  they  would  instantly  offer 
armed  resistance  to  Filipino  control,  and  the  old 
haphazard  intermittent  warfare,  profitless  and  worse 
than  profitless  for  both  peoples,  would  be  resumed." 

"I  say,  in  all  kindness,  but  with  deep  conviction, 
that  there  is  no  reason  for  believing  that  Filipino 
control  of  the  more  pacific  non-Christian  tribes  would 
not  promptly  result  in  the  re-establishment  of  the 
old  system  of  oppression  which  Americans  have 
found  it  necessary  to  combat  from  the  day  when 
military  rule  was  first  established  in  these  islands 
until  now.  I  speak  whereof  I  know  when  I  say 
that  the  people  of  these  tribes  have  been  warned, 

*It  is  interesting  to  note  that  since  the  foregoing  report  was 
published,  Captain  Harris,  Philippine  Constabulary,  has  persuaded 
the  Kalingas  to  turn  in  one  hundred  and  eighty-seven  firearms  in 
their  possession,  and  this  without  firing  a  shot  himself.  What  this 
means  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  all  over  the  Islands, 
whether  among  Christians  or  non- Christians,  the  desire  to  have 
firearms  is  of  the  keenest.  The  great  ambition  of  the  Ifugao  is 
to  be  a  policeman,  and  so  be  authorized  to  carry  a  gun.  The 
Moros  will  give  $400.00  for  an  Army  rifle  and  a  belt  of  ammunition 
worth,  say,  $18.00.— C.  De  W.  W. 


276         The  Plead  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

over  and  over  again,  by  those  interested  in  re-es- 
tablishing the  old  regime,  that  American  control  in 
the  Philippines  will  be  only  temporary,  and  that 
when  the  government  is  turned  over  to  the  Fili- 
pinos the  tribesmen  will  be  punished  for  their  pres- 
ent 'insubordination'  and  failure  tamely  to  submit 
to  injustice  and  oppression,  as  many  of  them  for- 
merly did." 

These  extracts  speak  for  themselves.  So  far  as 
is  known,  the  report  from  which  they  are  drawn 
has  gone  unchallenged.  Is  it  necessary  any  further 
to  consider  the  question  of  a  transfer  of  control 
from  the  present  authorities  to  the  Filipinos  or  to 
any  other  authority?  Would  not  any  change  in 
the  present  administration  be  singularly  unwise? 
Of  course,  the  views  and  arguments  set  forth  here 
are  extremely  unpopular  among  the  politicians  of 
the  native  ruling  class.  But  then  no  Filipino  likes 
the  plain,  unvarnished  truth,  a  fact  that  should  re- 
ceive full  weight  in  considering  any  demand  or  re- 
quest of  native  or  racial  origin,  involving  questions 
of  government. 

With  our  own  treatment  of  the  American  Indian 
in  mind,  our  people  should  be  the  last  to  consent 
to  any  change  in  the  relations  or  administration  of 
the  wild  men  of  the  Philippine  Islands  not  fully 
justified  by  the  amplest  necessity,  not  warranted  by 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.          277 

well-grounded  hopes  of  greater  improvement.  These 
men,  for  the  first  time  in  their  history,  are  having  a 
chance.  That  chance  is  fair  to-day,  and  will  con- 
tinue fair  so  long  as  its  administration  lies  in  Amer- 
ican hands,  competent,  trained,  and  experienced. 

In  taking  over  the  Philippines,  we  have  inci- 
dentally become  responsible  for  a  large  number  of 
wild  men.  Their  fate  is  bound  up  in  that  of  the 
Islands.  Now,  these  islands  may  remain  under  our 
control,  or  they  may  not.  Obviously,  then,  the 
question  has  its  political  side:  we  may  grant  full 
international  independence  to  the  Philippines.  In 
the  belief  of  some  this  would  be  merely  a  signal  for 
civil  war  in  the  Archipelago,  the  issue  of  which  no 
man  can  guess.  But  whether  or  not,  in  granting 
independence  to  the  Philippines,  we  shall  be  sign- 
ing the  death-warrant  of  the  highlander.  Let  us 
repeat  that  this  people  form  one-tenth  of  the  pop- 
ulation of  Luzon:  save  as  we  are  helping  him,  he 
can  not  as  yet  assert  himself  beyond  the  reach  of 
his  spear.  Shall  we  be  the  ones  to  mark  this  as  the 
limit  beyond  which  he  shall  never  go?  Let  us  not 
deceive  ourselves:  a  grant  of  independence  means 
the  abandonment  of  hundreds  of  thousands  of  peo- 
ple to  perpetual  barbarism. 

What  would  happen  if  the  Islands  fell  into  alien 
hands  of  course  no  one  can  tell.  But  there  is  strong 


278         The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

ground  for  believing  that  Japan  would  enter  a  mighty 
bid  for  the  sovereignty  of  the  Archipelago,  if  we 
ever  contemplate  parting  with  it.  Now,  Japan  in 
Formosa  has  for  years  been  struggling,  and  without 
success,  to  control  or  subdue  the  aborigines  of  the 
mountains,  a  people  of  the  same  blood  as  the  Igorots, 
of  the  same  habits  and  traits,  savage  head-hunters, 
the  terror  of  all  the  plainsmen  of  no  matter  what 
origin.  It  is  interesting  to  read*  that  "among  other 
measures  taken  by  the  Japanese  authorities  to  '  con- 
trol '  the  aborigines  was  the  erection  of  barbed  wire 
entanglements  charged  with  electricity,"  the  idea 
being,  after  surrounding  a  savage  position  by  these 
entanglements,  to  have  the  troops  drive  the  sav- 
ages upon  them.  Many  people  have  refused  to  be- 
lieve that  this  electrical  process  has  ever  been  put 
into  effect,  but  the  Kobe  newspaper  goes  on  to 
quote  the  correspondent  of  the  Times  in  confirma- 
tion. And  a  correspondent  from  Shanghai,  writingf 
to  give  the  truth  about  the  state  of  affairs  in  For- 
mosa and  to  defend  the  Japanese  against  the  charge 
of  ill-treating  the  savages,  nevertheless  admits  hav- 
ing been  shown  the  entanglements,  which,  he  says, 
are  "as  harmless  as  any  ordinary  fence  wire  during 
the  day,  except  in  cases  of  serious  uprising  on  the 

*The  Japan  Chronicle,  weekly  edition,  Kobe,  January  5,  1911. 
\lbid.,  same  date. 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.          279 

part  of  the  savages.  At  night  it  is  charged,  but  all 
the  savages  know  this  grave  fact."  According  to 
the  Times  correspondent,  some  three  hundred  miles 
have  already  been  set  up,  and  the  work  will  be 
pushed  until  the  aborigines  "are  wholly  caged." 
Lastly,  the  Chronicle  reports  the  Governor-General 
of  Formosa  as  fixing  a  term  of  three  years  for  the 
suppression  of  the  bravest  and  fiercest  tribe  of  all, 
numbering  50,000,  at  a  cost  of  17,000,000  yen.  Now, 
we  have  no  interest  here  or  elsewhere  in  what  is, 
after  all,  a  municipal  affair  of  Japan's.  She  must 
and  will  settle  her  own  problems  as  seems  best  to 
her,  and,  if  she  is  driven  to  "suppress"  her  For- 
mosan  aborigines,  it  is  none  of  our  business.  More- 
over, before  pronouncing  upon  the  matter,  we  should 
in  all  fairness  hear  the  other  side,  although  it  does 
look  as  though  the  electric  wire  fence  must  be  ad- 
mitted. But  there  is  enough  in  what  is  reported 
from  Formosa  to  give  us  pause  when  we  consider 
the  possibility  of  parting  with  the  control  of  the 
Philippine  .Islands,  whether  to  Japan  or  to  any 
other  nation. 

In  so  far  as  the  wild  tribes  of  the  Archipelago 
are  concerned,  we  have  made  a  happy  beginning; 
we  owe  it  to  our  self-respect  to  carry  on  the  work 
to  a  happy  end.  This  we  can  do  by  heeding  the 
simplest  of  rules:  Leave  well  alone. 


THE      INDEPENDENCE 

OF 
THE    PHILIPPINES 


APPENDIX. 

THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  THE  PHILIPPINES. 
"Am  I  my  brother's  keeper?" — Genesis  *v.,  9. 

"If  we  lose  sight  of  the  welfare  of  the  people  in  a  creed  or  a 
phrase  or  a  doctrine,  we  have  taken  leave  of  our  intelligence,  and 
we  have  proved  ourselves  unfit  for  leadership." — A  Letter  to  Uncle 
Sam. 

Shall  we  give  their  independence  to  the  Philippines?  To  this 
question  an  answer  is  still  to  be  made  by  the  American  people. 
Not  only  do  we  not  know  whether  we  shall  give  this  independence 
or  not,  but  we  have  not  yet  decided  whether  we  ought  to  or  not. 
Even  if  we  could  suppose  that  the  country  had  made  up  its  mind 
on  the  subject,  it  would  still  be  true  that  no  competent  authority 
has  considered  the  manner  in  which  our  country  would  translate 
its  desires  into  action,  whether  in  one  direction  or  another. 

The  reason  of  this  state  of  affairs  is  not  far  to  seek:  our 
people  neither  know  anything  about  these  islands,  nor  do  they 
care  anything  about  them.  Perhaps  it  is  more  accurate  to  say 
that  our  ignorance  is  the  logical  result  of  our  indifference.  The 
Islands  are  far  away,  as  it  were,  inhabited  by  a  different  race, 
busied,  on  the  whole,  about  things  that  form  no  part  of  our  life, 
whether  national  or  private.  We  have,  as  a  people,  bestowed  no 
serious  thought  upon  them;  we  have  not  yet  raised  the  disposition 
to  be  made  of  them  to  the  dignity  of  a  national  question. 

I. 

The  Philippines  became  ours  by  the  fortune  of  war.  On  the 
subsidence  of  the  immediate  questions  raised  by  the  war,  we  have 
continued  in  the  ownership  of  the  Islands  without  concerning  our- 
selves thus  far  as  to  the  ultimate  place  they  are  to  occupy  in  our 
national  ecomony.  Of  this  state  of  affairs,  but  one  opinion  can 

283 


284          The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

be  expressed:  it  is  extraordinary.  Even  in  a  grossly  material 
material  point  of  view,  our  attitude  is  indefensible;  if  we  regard 
ourselves  as  landlords,  we  are  indifferent  to  our  tenants;  if  as  mere 
owners,  then  are  we  careless  of  the  future  of  our  property.  We 
have  not  assumed  the  responsibilities  involved  with  any  national 
sense  of  responsibility;  we  have  neither  declared  nor  formed  any 
policy.  But  in  this  fact  lies  the  extraordinariness  of  the  situation. 
Of  the  soundness  of  our  title  to  the  Islands  at  international  law  there 
is  not  the  shadow  of  a  doubt;  the  Islands  are  ours.  What  do  we 
intend  to  do  with  them?  Why  have  we  not,  after  fourteen  years' 
possession,  found  an  answer  to  the  question,  or,  in  other  words, 
declared  a  policy?  Nations,  no  less  than  individuals,  must  take 
an  interest  in  their  property,  and  society  demands  as  a  right  that 
any  property  of  whatever  nature  shall  be  adjusted  in  respect  of  re- 
lations to  all  other  property.  We  have  followed  this  course  as 
regards  Cuba  and  Porto  Rico;  but,  apart  from  taking  the  Phil- 
ippines and  continuing  to  own  them,  we  have  made  no  adjustment 
of  their  case.  The  property,  as  such,  has  been  administered,  and, 
on  the  whole,  well  administered;  the  amount  of  work  done,  indeed, 
is  astonishing.  But  that  is  not  the  issue:  however  good  has  been 
the  official  administration  of  the  Archipelago,  whatever  the  progress 
under  our  tutelage  of  its  peoples  as  a  whole,  no  one  knows  to-day 
what  relation  will  be  permanently  established  between  the  Archi- 
pelago and  the  United  States,  what  our  policy  is,  or  is  to  be,  in 
respect  of  the  Islands.  And  yet  upon  our  declaration  of  a  policy 
hangs  their  future.  The  matter  in  its  interest  and  importance  is 
national;  equally  national  is  the  indifference  we  have  displayed 
with  respect  to  its  settlement.  Both  the  United  States  and  the 
Philippines  are  entitled  to  a  decision. 

II. 

At  the  outset  of  any  consideration  of  the  question  in  hand, 
it  is  obvious  that  we  are  not  shut  up  a  priori  to  any  one  solution. 
Thus,  we  may  decide  to  keep  the  Islands,  or  we  may  grant  them 
immediate  independence,  or  independence  at  some  future  date;  we 
may  establish  a  protectorate,  or  give  a  qualified  independence,  or 
even  turn  them  over  to  some  other  power — for  example,  England 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.          285 

or  Japan;  or,  finally,  we  may  secure  an  international  agreement 
to  neutralize  the  Islands,  thus  ostensibly  guarding  them  against 
athe  mhitions  of  powerful  neighbors  of  colonizing  disposition.  All 
of  these  solutions  have  at  one  time  or  another  been  memioned; 
not  one  of  them  has  ever  been  officially  announced  by  the  Govern- 
ment, or  ratified  by  the  people.  Although  they  are  all  possible, 
yet  a  moment's  thought  shows  that  they  are  of  very  different 
weight:  it  is  hard  to  conceive,  for  example,  of  our  turning  the 
Islands  over  to  England.  Excluding,  then,  cession  to  any  foreign 
power,  we  may  roughly  arrange  the  various  possibilities  in  a 
scale,  as  it  were:  (a)  absolute  retention;  (b)  qualified  retention; 
(c)  protectorate;  (d)  neutralization;  (e)  international  independence 
at  some  future  date;  (/)  immediate  international  independence.  On 
examining  this  list  thus  arranged,  certain  deductions  appear.  The 
stated  various  possibilities  are  not  all  independent,  nor  are  they 
all  exclusive  one  of  the  others.  Thus  (a)  excludes  all  the  rest,  or, 
better,  implies  (b),  (c),  and  (d),  and  excludes  (e)  and  (/);  (b)  and  (c) 
between  them  are  not  independent,  since  a  qualified  retention  may 
pass  into  a  protectorate.  Neutralization  not  impossibly  may  ulti- 
mately call  for  a  protectorate.  Future  independence,  so  long  as 
unaccomplished,  implies  (a),  (b),  (c),  and  (d),  while  (/)  is  compl  -tely 
exclusive.  It  may,  however,  not  prevent  foreign  absorption,  if, 
once  out,  we  stay  out. 

We  shall  not  here  take  up  all  of  these  possibilities.  Whatever 
other  conclusion  may  be  reached,  the  American  people  must  first 
pass,  either  tacitly  or  explicitly,  on  retention  or  independence.  If 
either  of  these  extremes  be  selected,  the  other  possibilities  go  by 
the  board.  If  both  are  rejected,  the  remaining  four  will  then  have 
their  day  in  court. 

Our  immediate  purpose,  then,  is  to  discuss  the  question  with 
which  this  investigation  opens,  with  the  definite  purpose  of  sug- 
gesting, if  not  of  reaching,  conclusions  that  may  help  others  in 
forminga  a  decision.  It  is  only  when  individual  decisions  have  so 
increased  in  number  as  in  some  sort  to  form  a  body  of  public 
opinion  that  future  action,  whether  for  or  against  independence,  is 
to  be  expected. 


286          The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

III. 

However  unjustly  the  American  people  may  treat  its  own 
self  in  respect  of  tariffs  and  other  issues  deeply  affecting  its  welfare, 
it  may  be  taken  for  granted,  and  is  so  taken  here,  that  in  foreign 
relations  the  desire  of  the  people  is  to  do  what  is  right.  The  right 
determined,  a  duty  is  imposed.  Clearly,  then,  we  must  first  try 
to  discover  in  this  case  what  is  right — what  is  right  for  us,  what 
is  right  for  the  Islanders.  It  may  be  that  what  is  theoretically 
right,  or  regarded  as  theoretically  right,  shall  turn  out  to  be  prac  • 
tically  wrong;  or  that  what  is  right  for  the  one  shall  be  wrong 
for  the  other.  Again,  some  common  standing-ground  may  be 
found,  where  the  right  of  each,  converted  into  the  rights  of  both, 
may  so  far  overlap  as  substantially  to  coincide. 

The  idea  is  held  by  a  vigorous  few,  and  incessantly  expressed, 
that  the  American  people,  through  force  of  arms,  is  holding  in 
subjection  and  depriving  of  liberty  another  people;  that  this  state 
of  affairs  is  wrong,  bad  for  both  sides,  and  should  come  to  an  end 
by  an  immediate  grant  of  full  independence  to  the  Filipino  people, 
because  no  one  nation  is  good  enough  to  hold  any  other  in  sub- 
jection. It  is  pertinent  to  remark,  that  these  ideas  so  far  have 
found  no  nation-wide  expression:  as  already  said,  they  are  the 
expression  of  only  a  few,  but  they  may  be  the  private  opinions 
of  many.  Taken  together,  they  constitute  what  may  be  called 
the  purely  abstract  view  of  the  case.  This  view  takes  no  account 
of  attendant  conditions;  it  asserts  that  the  right  is  one  and  only 
one  thing,  and  can  not  be  anything  else;  that  is  to  say,  it  defines  the 
right  and  refuses  to  admit  that  any  other  definition  will  hold,  or 
that  any  elements  can  enter  into  the  definition  other  than  those 
which  it  has  seen  fit  to  include.  If  no  other  aspect  of  the  case  be 
correct,  our  duty  is  indeed  plain.  But  it  is  conceivable  that  this 
view  may  not  be  correct,  or  at  least  that  so  many  other  factors 
have  to  be  considered  that  what  might  be  true  in  the  abstract  is 
subject  to  very  considerable  modification  when  applied  to  things 
as  they  are. 

Of  this,  no  better  illustration  can  be  given  here  than  the 
error  committed  when  it  is  asserted  that  we,  one  people,  are  hold- 
ing another  people,  the  Filipino,  in  subjection.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.          287 

there  is  no  Filipino  people.  A  certain  number  of  persons,  about 
eight  millions,  inhabit  the  Philippine  Archipelago,  but  it  is  no  more 
correct  to  call  these  one  people  than  it  is  to  call  the  Europeans  one 
people  because  they  happen  to  inhabit  the  European  continent. 
It  is  well  to  keep  this  point  in  mind,  because,  unless  a  grave  error 
is  here  committed,  the  impression  prevails  that  it  is  one  single, 
homogeneous  people  whom  we  are  unjustly  depriving  of  independ- 
ence. At  any  rate,  if  not  categorically  expressed,  the  connotation 
of  the  idea  of  homogeneity  exists.  How  far  this  is  from  the  truth 
is  so  evident  to  any  person  having  the  slightest  real  acquaintance 
with  the  Philippines,  that  it  would  hardly  be  worth  while  to  dwell 
upon  the  matter  here,  were  it  not  for  the  ignorance  of  our  people 
at  large.  It  is  convenient  to  speak  of  the  Filipino  people,  just  as  it 
is  convenient  to  speak  of  the  Danish  people,  or  of  the  English; 
but  whereas,  when  we  say  "Danish"  or  "English"  we  mean  one  defi- 
nite thing  that  exists  as  such,  when  we  say  "Filipino"  we  should  un- 
derstand that  the  term  stands  for  a  relatively  great  number  of  very 
different  things.  For  example,  confining  ourselves  for  the  moment  to 
the  Christianized  tribes,  it  may  be  asserted  that  the  inhabitants  of 
the  great  Cagayan  Valley,  the  tobacco-growing  country,  are  at  least 
as  different  from  those  of  the  Visayas,  the  great  middle  group  of 
Islands,  as  are  the  Italians  from  the  Spanish.  Precisely  similar  dif- 
ferences, increasing,  roughly,  with  the  difference  of  latitude,  may 
be  drawn  almost  at  random  between  any  other  pairs  of  the  ele- 
ments constituting  the  Filipino  population.  The  Ilokanos,  to  give 
only  one  more  illustration,  have  almost  nothing  more  in  common 
with  the  Bicols  than  the  fact  that  they  both  probably  come  from 
the  same  original  stock,  just  as  the  English  and  the  Germans  have  N. 
the  same  ancestors.  All  these  subdivisions  speak  different  lan- 
guages, and  the  vast  majority  do  not  speak  Spanish  at  all. 

But  this  is  not  all.  The  Filipino  peoples  are  divided  into 
two  great  classes,  the  Christian  and  the  non-Christian.  Now,  these 
non- Christians  number  over  a  million,  and  are  themselves  broken 
up  into  many  subdivisions,  not  only  differing  in  language,  customs, 
habits  and  traditions,  but  until  very  recently  bitterly  hostile  to 
one  another,  and  so  low  in  the  scale  of  political  development  that, 
unlike  our  own  Indians,  they  have  never  risen  to  any  conception 


288          The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

of  even  tribal  government  or  organization.  Moreover,  in  Moro- 
land,  in  the  great  island  of  Mindanao  with  its  neighbors,  the  situ- 
ation is  further  complicated  by  the  fact  that  the  dominant  elements 
are  Mohammedan.  Over  most  of  these  non- Christians  the  Span- 
iards had  not  even  the  shadow  of  control.  The  appellation  "Fil- 
ipino people"  is  therefore  wholly  erroneous;  more  than  that,  it  is 
even  dangerously  fallacious,  in  that  its  use  blinds  or  tends  to 
blind  our  own  people  to  the  real  conditions  existing  in  the  Archi- 
pelago. It  isj?orrect  to  speak  of  the  Filipino  peoples,  because  this 
expression  is,  geographically,  accurately  descriptive;  but  it  is  ab- 
solutely misleading  to  speak  of  the  Filipino  people,  because  of  the 
false  political  idea  involved  and  conveyed  by  the  use  of  the  singular 
number.  Similarly,  there  is  no  objection  to  the  term  "Filipino"  or 
"Filipinos,"  so  long  as  we  understand  it  to  mean  merely  an  inhab- 
itant or  the  inhabitants  of  the  Philippine  Archipelago,  more  nar- 
rowly the  Christianized  inhabitant  or  inhabitants;  but  it  is  dis- 
tinctly wrong  to  give  to  the  term  a  political  or  national  color.  It 
may  be  remarked  now  that  the  divisions,  both  Christian  and  non- 
Christian,  of  which  we  have  been  speaking,  determined  as  they 
are  by  natural  conditions,  are  likely  to  survive  for  many  genera- 
tions to  come.  At  any  rate,  the  fact  that  many,  and  those  the 
most  important,  constituent  elements  of  the  proposed  independent 
government  are  widely  separated  by  the  seas,  and  that  even  those 
situated  on  the  same  islands  are  confined  by  mountain  ranges 
hitherto  extremely  difficult  to  cross,  makes  it  plain  that  the  homo- 
geneity necessary  to  the  formation  and  permanency  of  a  strong 
government  will  be  hard  to  secure,  or,  if  ever  secured,  to  maintain. 
When,  therefore,  it  is  proposed  to  grant  independence  to  the 
Philippine  Islands,  let  it  be  recollected  that  this  grant  is  to  be 
made  not  to  a  single  homogeneous  people,  of  one  speech,  of  one 
religion,  of  one  state  of  civilization,  of  one  degree  of  social  and 
political  development,  but  to  an  aggregation  of  peoples,  of  different 
speech,  of  different  religions,  of  widely  varying  states  of  social 
and  political  development,  of  little  or  no  communication  with  one 
another — to  an  aggregation,  in  short,  whose  elements,  before  1898, 
had  had  but  one  bond,  the  involuntary  bond  of  inherited  sub- 
jection to  Spanish  authority,  and  all  of  which  to-day  are  distin- 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.          289 

guished  by  the  characteristic  trait  of  the  Oriental,  absence  of  the 
quality  of  sympathy. 

IV. 

Since,  at  international  law,  our  title  to  the  Islands  is  unclouded , 
it  follows  that  our  responsibility  in  the  premises  is  complete.  If, 
therefore,  in  the  administration  of  our  responsibility,  our  wards 
should  make  a  request  for  independence,  it  is  our  duty  to  examine 
this  request,  to  inquire  into  its  origin,  and  then  to  investigate  its 
reasonableness  with  the  purpose  of  determining  whether,  in  the 
circumstances,  our  wards  are  able,  prepared,  or  ready  to  undertake 
the  responsibilities  which  they  pray  us  to  discharge  upon  them. 
That  the  request  for  independence  is  made,  and  frequently 
made,  there  can  be  no  doubt.  It  has  been  made  in  the  past  and 
it  will  continue  to  be  made  in  the  future.  One  hears  it  in  speeches, 
and  the  native  press  echoes  it.  Regularly  the  Assembly  closes,  or 
used  to  close,  its  sessions  by  a  resolution  calling  upon  the  United 
States  to  grant  immediate  independence  to  the  Philippine  Islands. 
Apparently  the  request  has  some  volume;  in  any  case,  it  is  more 
01  less  loudly  made.  Now,  if  the  demand  is  widespread,  if  it  comes 
from  all  ranks  of  society,  from  the  humblest  peasant  in  the  rice- 
paddies  to  the  richest  merchant  of  Manila,  from  the  tobacco- 
planter  of  the  Cagayan  Valley  to  the  hemp-stripper  of  Davao,  if 
it  is  made  in  full  recognition  of  the  responsibilities  involved,  then, 
whether  we  are  disposed  to  grant  it  or  not,  it  is  a  serious  matter. 
It  becomes  serious,  objectively,  because  so  many  people  are  asking 
for  it.  Even  if  the  demand  come  but  from  a  few,  the  matter  is 
nevertheless,  subjectively,  one  of  concern,  because  we  are  respon- 
sible, and  no  factor  or  element  should  be  overlooked  in  making 
up  our  minds. 

Now,  it  is  a  fact  that  the  chief  demand  for  independence  comes 
from  the  Tagalogs,  the  subdivision  or  tribe  of  the  Filipinos  (we 
are  using  the  word  here  and  elsewhere  as  a  convenience  merely) 
inhabiting  Manila  and  the  adjacent  provinces.  We  speak  hi  all 
kindliness  when  we  say  that  they  are  distinguished  by  a  certain 
restlessness  of  disposition,  by  a  considerable  degree  of  vanity.  They 
are  not  so  given  to  labor  as  some  others — for  example,  the  Ilokanos, 


290         The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

to  whom  they  are  measurably  inferior  in  point  of  trustworthiness. 
More  numerous  than  any  other  tribe  except  the  Visayans,  they 
are  also  wealthier  and  better  educated.  Some  of  them  have  there- 
fore earned  and  achieved  distinction,  but  these  are  exceptions,  for 
in  general  they  are  characterized  by  volatility  and  superficiality. 
They  are  more  mixed  in  blood  than  other  tribes.  It  is  not  without 
significance  that  it  was  these  same  Tagalogs  who  organized  in  the 
past  the  chief  insurrections  against  the  domination  of  Spain,  prin- 
cipally, as  is  well  known,  because  of  the  misrule  of  the  friars.  It 
is  also  a  fact  that  the  farther  one  removes  from  Manila  the  feebler 
becomes  the  cry  for  independence.  If  we  consider  the  condition 
of  the  loudest  supporters  of  the  movement,  we  find  them  all,  or 
nearly  all,  to  be  politicians,  politicos.  Some  of  these  politicians  are 
not  Tagalogs — for  example,  Sen  or  Osmena,  the  Speaker  of  the 
Assembly,  is  a  Visayan;  so  that  it  would  perhaps  be  more  ac- 
curate to  say  of  the  entire  propaganda  that  it  is  an  affair  of  the 
politicians,  supported  chiefly  by  Tagalogs.  In  other  words,  it  is 
worth  while  to  ask  ourselves  if  the  demand  for  independence  be 
real,  arising  out  of  the  necessities  of  the  people,  or  artificial,  ex- 
ploited by  the  politicians  for  ends  not  unfamiliar  to  us  here  in  the 
States.  It  is  useless  to  appeal  for  a  decision  to  public  opinion  in 
the  Archipelago,  that  shall  include  the  whole  population,  for  no 
such  public  opinion  exists  or  can  exist.  AndNif  it  be  argued  that 
lack  of  public  opinion  is  no  disproof  of  the  existence  of  a  real  desire 
for  independence,  the  rejoinder  springs  at  once  to  the  tongue,  that 
independence  would  be  a  sham  where  public  opinion  is  impossible. 
There  is  cause  to  believe  that  the  true  aspect  of  the  case  is  to  be 
found  in  a  remark  made  by  a  young  Tagalog  (to  Mr.  Taft  himself, 
if  we  recollect  aright),  that  there  was  no  reason  why  independence 
should  not  be  established  at  once,  seeing  that  the  two  things  needed 
already  existed  in  the  Philippines — to-wit,  the  governed  in  the  shape 
of  the  peasantry  of  the  fields,  and  the  governors  among  the  gente 
fina,  the  gente  ilustrada  (the  superior  classes)  of  Manila.  However 
this  may  be,  a  native  newspaper  of  Manila,  distinguished  by  its 
hostility  to  all  things  American,  by  its  insistent  demand  for  in- 
dependence, did  not  hesitate  to  accuse  the  wealthy  Filipino  class 
of  being  "refractory  to  the  spirit  of  association,"  of  being  "ego- 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon,          291 

tistical  and  disdainful  toward  the  middle  and  lower  classes,"  and 
of  refusing  "to  join  their  interests  with  those  of  the  lower  classes."* 

We  do  not  go  so  far  as  do  some,  and  believe  that  the  whole 
agitation  is  but  a  conspiracy  to  place  the  destinies  of  the  Islands 
in  the  hands  of  an  oligarchy.  But,  in  all  probability,  a  Tagalog 
oligarchy  would  be  formed;  for  the  capital,  Manila,  is  Tagalog, 
the  adjacent  provinces  are  Tagalog,  the  wealthy  class  of  the  Islands 
on  the  whole  is  Tagalog,  and  there  is  no  middle  class  anywhere. 
The  mere  fact  that  the  capital  is  situated  in  the  Tagalog  prov- 
inces would  perhaps  alone  determine  the  issue,  apart  from  the 
fact  that  the  Tagalogs  are  the  dominant  element  of  the  native 
population.  Before  granting  independence,  therefore,  we  should 
be  reasonably  sure  that  we  are  not  in  reality  placing  supreme  con- 
trol in  the  hands  of  a  few. 

But  let  us  suppose  that  in  fact  the  populations  of  the  Archi- 
pelago were  quite  generally  to  ask  for  independence.  We  must 
again  ask  ourselves,  How  genuine  or  real  would  this  demand  be? 
It  is  not  very  difficult  to  answer  this  question.  The  Filipino  is 
most  easily  led  and  influenced;  indeed,  it  is  to  be  doubted  if  any- 
where else  in  the  world  a  being  can  be  found  more  easily  led  and 
influenced. f  For  example,  it  is  relatively  not  an  uncommon  thing, 
certainly  in  the  Tagalog  provinces,  for  a  man  having  a  grudge 
against  a  neighbor  to  invite  three  or  four  friends  to  join  him  in 
boloing  his  enemy.  The  invitation  is  frequently  accepted,  although 
the  guests  may  themselves  have  nothing  whatever  against  the 
victim-to-be.  Early  in  1909,  a  miscreant  who  had  been  parading 
himself  in  women's  clothes  as  a  female  Jesus  Christ,  upon  exposure 
by  a  native  doctor,  out  of  revenge  got  together  a  band  of  nineteen 
men,  and  with  their  help  proceeded  to  cut  the  doctor  to  pieces. 
This  occurred  within  a  day's  march  of  Manila.  The  example  just 
given  suggests  another  Filipino  trait,  the  readiness  with  which  the 
more  ignorant  will  swallow  any  and  all  religious  nostrums,  and 

*See  the  weekly  Manila  Times,  October  21,  1910. 

^According  to  a  story  current  some  years  ago,  a  distinguished  officer  of 
our  Army  serving  in  the  Philippines  once  remarked  to  a  justly  celebrated  native 
judge  of  the  highest  character,  that  he  had  no  opinion  of  the  "native  justice,  and 
added,  that  for  a  thousand  pesos  he  could  procure  witnesses  to  prove  that  the 
judge  had  committed  a  murder  in  such  a  place,  although  the  judge  had  never 
been  in  the  place  in  his  life.  "Absurd,"  remarked  the  judge.  "How  absurd?" 
"You  misunderstand  me,"  answered  the  judge;  "it  would  be  absurd  to  spend  a 
thousand  pesos  on  such  a  purpose  when  two  hundred  would  suffice." 


292          The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

form  absurd  sects,  usually  for  the  financial  or  other  material  ben- 
efit of  their  leaders.  In  yet  another  case,  a  murderous  bandit* 
of  Tayabas  Province,  a  Tagalog  province,  whom  we  caught  and 
very  properly  hanged,  used  to  promise  as  a  reward  for  any 
deed  of  special  villainy  in  which  he  might  be  interested,  a  bit  of 
independencia  (independence),  and  then  would  show  a  box  with 
the  word  painted  on  it,  declaring  that  it  contained  a  supply  sent 
down  to  him  from  Manila.  He  never  failed  to  find  men  to  do 
his  will.  Our  purpose  in  citing  these  examples,  whose  number 
\  might  be  indefinitely  multiplied,  is  not  to  show  that  the  poor, 
\  ignorant  Filipino  is  especially  criminal  of  disposition,  but  to  point 
\out  the  ease  with  which  he  can  be  led  by  other  men.  If,  under 
Wil  influence,  he  will  altruistically,  as  it  were,  consent  to  almost 
any  crime,  obviously  he  can  be  induced  to  consent  to  almost  any- 
thing else.  His  consent  or  acquiescence  can  not  be  taken  to  in- 
dicate appreciation  of  the  issue. 

If  told,  then,  by  his  political  leaders  that  he  must  ask  for 
independence,  the  Filipino  most  certainly  will  ask  for  it;  and  the 
fact  that  in  the  majority  of  cases  he  has  no  idea  of  what  he  is  ask- 
ing for  will  make  no  difference  to  him,  just  as  this  makes  no  dif- 
ference to  his  cacique,  or  boss.  But  it  ought  to  make  a  great  deal 
of  difference  to  us.  We  may  be  giving  him  edged  tools  to  play 
with,  only  to  find  when  too  late  that  the  edge  has  been  turned 
against  him,  a  result  for  which  we  should  then  be  directly  respon- 
sible. If  a  general  or  universal  request  could  be  taken  to  show 
that  lack  of  independence  is  operating  to  deprive  the  Filipino  of 
his  liberty  and  to  estop  him  in  the  pursuit  of  happiness,  the  situ- 
ation of  affairs  would  be  confessedly  acute.  But  it  is  a  fact  patent 
to  all  who  know  the  country,  that  the  Filipino  enjoys  a  freedom 
at  least  as  great  as  that  of  the  average  American  citizen,  and  is 
at  complete  liberty  to  pursue  happiness  in  any  way  consistent  with 
the  law  of  the  land  and  with  the  rights  of  others.  We  must  con- 
clude that  a  request,  even  if  universal,  would  not  necessarily  be 

'•'•'This  worthy,  Ruperto  Rfos  by  name,  in  succession  promoted  himself  to 
brigadier  and  major  general,  and  then  announced  himself  as  generalissimo.  As 
though  this  were  not  enough,  he  next  proclaimed  himself  pope,  "Papa  Rios,"  and  then 
crowned  his  earthly  glories  by  calling  himself  Jesus  Christ,  and  as  such  was 
hanged.  Our  pity  for  such  self-delusion  is  tempered  by  the  tact  that  the  purpose 
in  view  was  crime. 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.          293 

for  us  a  safe  guide  of  action.  The  universality  shown  might  prove 
merely  that  all  had  agreed  to  what  had  been  proposed  by  the 
leaders,  and  would  leave  untouched  the  merits  of  the  case. 

V. 

Intimately  allied  with  this  question  of  reasonableness  are 
those  of  readiness,  preparedness,  capacity  to  assume  the  burdens 
as  well  as  the  rights  and  privileges  of  independence. 

On  readiness,  we  need  not  dwell;  it  is  the  readiness  of  ac- 
quiescence, not  of  preparation:  the  Filipinos  are  ready,  just  as 
children  are  ready  to  play  with  matches.  But  preparedness  and 
capacity  call  for  more  consideration,  however  brief. 

No  one  will  pretend  that  the  Filipinos  have  had  any  political 
training.  Before  the  arrival  of  the  Spaniards,  only  350  years  ago, 
they  were  all  uncivilized.  Many  of  them  are  still  semi-savages  I 
others  are  savages  pure  and  simple.  These  facts  are  indisputable. 
If,  then,  we  turn  to  history  for  assistance,  we  can  not  find  a  single 
instance  of  any  real  political  evolution  in  any  of  the  various  di- 
visions of  the  inhabitants  of  the  Archipelago.  The  exception  fur- 
nished by  the  debased  Mohammedan  sultanates  of  the  great  Island 
of  Mindanao  is  only  apparent.  The  germ  of  fruitful  growth  is 
everywhere  missing.  Now,  the  Spaniards  assuredly  took  no  steps 
to  teach  their  new  subjects  the  art  and  science  of  government: 
there  was  every  reason,  from  their  point  of  view,  why  they  should 
not  teach  this  art  and  science.  On  the  other  hand,  our  own  course 
has  been  totally  different.  We  have  lost  no  time  in  putting  po- 
litical power  into  the  hands  of  the  natives,  so  that  to-day,  after 
fourteen  years'  possession,  municipal  and  provincial  government 
are  almost  wholly  native.  To  crown  all,  we  have  given  the  Fil- 
ipinos an  elective  legislature,  an  Assembly,  all  the  members  of 
which  are  native.  Students  of  the  subject  at  first  hand,  impartial 
observers  on  the  spot,  declare  freely  that  we  have  gone  much  too 
fast,  and  that  we  have  granted  a  measure  of  political  administration 
and  government  beyond  the  native  power  of  assimilation  and  di- 
gestion. With  this  opinion,  sound  though  it  be,  we  are  not  im- 
mediately concerned:  the  point  we  wish  to  bring  out  is  that  the 
experiment  we  have  made  is  not  free;  that  the  case  is  one  of  con- 


294          The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

strained  motion,  since  everyone  knows  that  the  mighty  power  oj 
the  United  States  dominates  the  entire  situation,  and  that  under 
these  conditions  the  Filipinos  have  been  exercising  themselves  in 
the  form  of  government,  rather  than  in  responsible  government 
itself.  The  Filipino  government  as  such  has  faced  no  crisis:  be- 
hind its  treasury  stands  that  of  the  metropolis.  Order  is  assured 
by  the  garrison  maintained  by  us,  internal  police  by  the  Constab- 
ulary, another  agency  of  American  origin.  But,  even  if  all  this 
were  not  true,  it  is  questionable  if  an  experience  of  only  eight  or 
nine  years  affords  sufficient  ground  for  the  belief  that  a  nascent 
government  could  exist  and  advance  under  its  own  power  alone. 

Our  training,  ample  and  generous  though  it  may  have  been, 
as  it  has  not,  for  lack  of  time  if  for  no  other  reason,  prepared  the 
native  to  govern  himself,  so  it  furnishes  no  real  test  of  his  capacity 
to  govern  himself.  Self-government  is  not  a  function  of  the  mere 
ability  to  fill  certain  offices,  to  discharge  certain  routine  duties  of 
administration:  it  depends  for  its  existence  and  maintenance  on 
the  possession  of  certain  qualities,  and  still  more,  perhaps,  on  the 
possession  of  those  qualities  by  a  majority  of  the  people  who  prac- 
tice or  are  to  practice  self-government,  on  an  educated  and  inherited 
interest  of  the  citizen  in  the  questions  affecting  his  welfare  in  so 
far  as  this  is  conditioned  by  government.  Tested  in  this  wise,  the 
Filipino  breaks  down  locally;  to  believe  that  anything  else  will 
happen  internationally  is  to  blind  one's  self  to  the  teaching  of 
experience. 

But  there  is  yet  another  test.  If  political  independence  is 
to  be  of  value  to  those  who  have  it,  if  it  is  to  endure  in  any  useful 
way,  it  must  rest  on  economic  independence.  The  state  must  be 
able  to  meet  its  obligations,  and  by  this  we  do  not  mean  merely 
its  current  bills,  its  housekeeping  bills,  as  it  were,  but  its  obliga- 
tions of  all  and  whatever  nature,  interior  police,  finance,  adminis- 
tration, dispensation  of  justice,  communications,  sanitation,  edu- 
cation, defense.  We  do  not  find  these  things  too  easy  in  our  own 
land,  and  all  of  us  can  without  effort  bring  to  mind  examples  of 
independent  societies  in  tropical  regions,  where,  these  things  being 
neglected,  the  resultant  government  is  a  mockery.  Have  we  any 
reason  to  believe  that  the  Filipino,  untrained,  inexperienced,  occu- 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.          295 

pying  an  undeveloped  area  of  special  configuration  in  a  region 
where  continuous  effort  is  disagreeable  and  initiative  distressing, 
will  achieve  success  where  others  of  greater  original  fitness  have 
made  a  failure? 

Evidently  the  possibility  of  obtaining  an  answer  to  this  ques- 
tion depends  on  the  possibility  of  determining,  within  allowable 
limits  of  precision,  the  qualities  and  defects  of  the  Filipino  peoples. 
Now,  this  is  a  difficult  thing  to  do,  but  it  is  not  an  impossible  thing ; 
at  any  rate,  a  first  approximation  may  be  derived  from  the  author- 
ities quoted  in  the  "Census  of  the  Philippine  Islands,"  1903,  pp. 
492  et  seq.  In  time,  these  authorities  range  from  Legaspi,  1565, 
to  our  own  day,  and  include  governors,  prelates,  travellers,  engin- 
eers, priests,  etc.,  among  whom  are  found  Spaniards,  Englishmen, 
Americans,  and  Filipinos.  As  might  be  expected,  all  sorts  of  qual- 
ities and  defects  are  reported.  Classifying  these,  and  rejecting  from 
consideration  all,  whether  quality  or  defect,  not  supported  by  at 
least  five  authorities,  it  may  be  concluded,  so  far  as  this  induction 
goes,  that  the  Filipino  is,  on  the  one  hand,  hospitable,  courageous, 
fond  of  music,  show,  and  display;  and,  on  the  other,  indolent,  super- 
stitious, dishonest,  and  addicted  to  gambling.  One  quality,  imita- 
tiveness,  is  possibly  neutral.  It  would  appear  that  his  virtues  do 
not  especially  look  toward  thrift — i.  e.,  economic  independence  — 
and  that  his  defects  positively  look  the  other  way.  If  the  witnesses 
testifying  be  challenged  on  the  score  of  incompetency,  let  us  turn 
to  the  reports  of  the  supervisors  of  the  census,  contained  in  the 
volume  already  cited;  for  these  cover  the  entire  Archipelago,  and 
set  forth  actual  conditions  at  one  and  the  same  epoch,  1903,  the 
date  of  the  census.  Moreover,  these  supervisors,  as  well  as  the 
special  agents  and  enumerators,  were  nearly  all  natives.  When, 
therefore,  these  supervisors  report  the  mass  of  the  Christianized 
Filipinos  as  simple  and  superstitious,  we  may  be  sure  that  we  have 
the  truth;  but  we  are  also  inevitably  led  to  the  conclusion  of  eco- 
nomic unfitness.  As  this  matter  of  economic  independence  is  one 
of  the  first  importance  in  determining  the  future  of  the  Islands,  we 
must  look  for  all  the  light  possible  on  the  question.  A  flood  is 
thrown  on  it  by  an  article  entitled  "  Nulla  est  Redemptio,"  published 
in  the  (native)  La  Democracia,  of  Manila,  October  10,  1910,  and 


296         The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

believed  to  be  the  production  of  perhaps  the  ablest  Filipino  alive 
to-day.     Premising  that  agriculture  is  the  chief  source  of  Philip- 
pine wealth,  and  that  this  source  failing,  all  others  must  fail,  the 
author  points  out  that,  although  taxes  are  lighter  in  the  Archipelago 
than  in  any  other  country,  production  is  much  less,  and  that  this 
is  the  chief  cause  of  the  prevailing  economic  distress.     He  points 
out  further  that  the  Assembly  is  wholly  native,  as  are  all  municipal 
and  nearly  all  provincial  officers,  and  that  therefore  they,  and  the 
constituencies  that  elected  them,  must  assume  responsibility.     Now, 
what  has  been  achieved?     The  provinces  have  spent  money  on 
buildings  and  parks,   but,  with  one  brilliant  exception,   none  on 
roads.     Nothing  has  been  done  for  agriculture.     Of  the  munici- 
palities, the  least  said  the  better;     they  are  a  wreck  in  the  full 
extension  of  the  word.     And,  as  the  hope  of  a  people  must  rest  in 
its  youth,  what  does  he  find  to  be  the  case?     Thousands  of  can- 
didates in  pharmacy,  law,  medicine;    as  regards  the  Civil  Service, 
enough  candidates  to  fill  all  the  posts  in  the  Islands  for  generations 
to  come.     But  of  farmers,  young  men  willing  to  return  to  the  fields, 
their  own  fields,  and  by  the  sweat  of  their  brow  to  work  out  the 
salvation  of  the  country?     None:     the  development  of  this  prin- 
cipal element  of  national  existence  is  left  to  the  ignorant  and  in- 
dolent peasantry.     He  draws  no  less  gloomy  a  picture  in  respect 
of  capital  and  property.     Nine- tenths  of  Manila,  and  all  important 
provincial  real  estate,  is  mortgaged.     Capital  is  furnished  at  ex- 
orbitant rates  of  interest,  and  usury  prevails.     In  the  country,  no 
security  is  accepted  save  real  property,  and  then  only  when  the 
lender  is  satisfied  that  his  debtor  will  be  unable  to  pay,  and  that 
the  security  will  pass. 

Bad  as  the  outlook  is,  no  remedy  suggests  itself.     For,  re- 
turning to  the  theme  that  agriculture  is  recognized  as  vital,  much 
energy  is  spent  in  discussion,  discourses,  lectures,  in  writing  arti- 
cles, in  discovering  reasons  why  agriculture  does  not  flourish,  but 
-nothing  else  and  nothing  more.* 

The  picture  may  be  overdrawn;   but  it  is  a  Filipino  picture, 
drawn  by  a  Filipino  hand.     Let  us  now  permit  the  native  press 

:;:It  is  only  fair  to  remark  that  the  Government  is  doing  every  thing  in  its 
power  to  develop  native  interest  in  agriculture.  Of  course  it  is  too  early  as  yet  to 
say  whether  its  efforts  will  be  rewarded. 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.          297 

to  speak  again  on  the  subject  engaging  our  attention.  Thus  Van- 
guardia*  a  bitter  anti- American  sheet,  arraigns  its  wealthy  fellow- 
countrymen  for  lack  of  initiative  and  fondness  of  routine.  It  ac- 
cuses them  of  a  willingness  to  invest  in  city  property,  to  deposit 
money  in  banks,  "to  make  loans  at  usurious  rates,  in  which  they 
take  advantage  of  the  urgent  and  pressing  necessities  of  then- 
countrymen,"  but  of  unwillingness  "to  engage  in  agriculture,  ma- 
rine or  industrial  enterprise";  and  says  they  are  "generally  lack- 
ing in  the  spirit  of  progression."  According  to  another  native 
newspaper,  the  vice  of  gambling  has  infected  all  classes  of  society, 
men  and  women  alike,  rich  and  poor,  young  and  old.  Here  it  is 
almost  impossible  to  overdraw  the  picture,  so  widespread  is  the  vice. 
Let  us  now  couple  these  statements,  drawn  from  native 
sources,  with  the  fact  that  the  Christianized  tribes,  all  told,  number 
some  7,000,000;  that  of  these  but  one-tenth  speak  Spanish;  and 
that  of  this  tenth  only  a  very  few  are  educated  in  any  accepted 
sense  of  the  word.  Repeating  here  a  form  of  summation  already 
employed  in  this  discussion,  let  us  bear  in  mind  that,  if  we  decide 
to  make  a  grant  of  independence,  we  shall  be  deciding  to  grant  it 
to  a  population,  composed,  first,  of  a  very  few  educated  persons; 
next,  of  a  small  fraction  able,  through  the  possession  of  Spanish, 
to  communicate  with  one  another;  and,  lastly,  of  a  remainder — 
the  vast,  the  immense  majority — not  only  unable  so  to  communi- 
cate, but  characterized  by  qualities  that,  however  commendable 
in  themselves,  do  not  constitute  a  foundation  on  which  popular 
self-government  may  safely  rest.  Further,  we  mean  to  grant  it 
to  a  population  which  contains  no  middle  class,  to  one  in  which 
the  poor  are  peculiarly  at  the  mercy  of  the  rich,  and  in  which 
nearly  all  the  elements  that  make  for  economic  independence  are 
conspicuously  lacking. 

VI. 

What  would  happen  if  we  were  to  grant  immediate  inde- 
pendence to  the  Islands?  Without  having  the  gift  of  prophecy, 
one  runs  no  risk  in  declaring  that  civil  war  would  be  almost  un- 
avoidable. At  least  this  is  the  belief  of  some  well-informed  Fili- 


=  Quoted  in  the  weekly  Manila  Times  of  October  21,  1910. 


298         The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

pinos,  a  belief  that  appears  to  have  some  ground  when  we  take 
into  account  the  great  probability  of  a  Tagalog  oligarchy.  But, 
without  going  so  far  as  to  predict  armed  strife,  it  would  seem  that 
any  government,  not  held  together  by  some  strong  external  power, 
would  soon  begin  to  break  up.  Its  various  elements,  not  only  dif- 
ferentiated from  one  another  by  speech,  but  physically  separated, 
in  many  cases,  by  the  seas,  would  tend  to  fall  apart.  The  Visayas, 
for  example,  would  refuse  sooner  or  later  to  acknowledge  the  Ta- 
galog supremacy  of  Luzon.  If  we  proceed  farther  south  still,  what 
practicable  bond  can  be  found  to  exist  between  Mindanao,  peopled 
by  Mohammedans  and  savages,  and  Luzon  or  Panay  or  Negros? 
The  consequences  of  such  a  disruption  as  is  here  predicted  must 
occur  to  everyone.  The  gravest  of  these,  gravest  in  that  it  would 
defeat  our  purpose  in  granting  independence,  would  be  foreign 
intervention.  Japan  would  most  certainly  insist  on  being  heard. 
Now,  the  Filipinos,  as  a  whole,  prefer  our  sovereignty  to  that  of 
the  Japanese.  England,  too,  would  have  a  right  to  interfere  for 
the  protection  of  her  commercial  interests  in  the  Archipelago.  It 
exercised  this  sort  of  right,  in  1882,  by  seizing  Egypt  in  behalf  of 
civilization  in  general.  In  the  meantime,  the  Moros  of  Mindanao 
and  Jolo  would  have  resumed  their  piratical  excursions  to  the  north- 
ward, burning,  killing,  and  carrying  off  slaves.  If  this  be  questioned, 
then  let  us  recollect  that  as  recently  as  1897  they  carried  off  slaves  from 
the  Visayas,  a  sporadic  case,  probably,  but  giving  evidence  that  the 
disease  of  piracy  is  to-day  merely  latent.  Given  an  opportunity, 
it  will  break  out  again.  Under  independence,  the  large,  beautiful, 
and  fertile  island  of  Mindanao  would  be  left  to  its  own  devices, 
would  be  lost  to  civilization.  Upon  this  point  we  need  have  no 
doubt  whatever.  The  issue  of  Filipino  control  of  Mindanao  was 
very  clearly  raised,  when  Mr.  Dickinson,  the  late  Secretary  of  War, 
visited  Mindanao  in  August  of  1910.  Upon  this  occasion  Mr. 
Dickinson,  in  response  to  a  Filipino  plea  for  immediate  independ- 
ence, with  consequent  control  of  the  Moros,  made  a  speech  in 
which  he  declared  the  unwillingness  of  the  Government  to  entrust 
to  the  66,000  Filipinos  living  in  Mindanao  the  government  of  the 
350,000  Moros  of  this  province.  At  the  close  of  this  speech,  four 
datus  (chiefs),  present  with  2,000  of  their  people,  and  controlling 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.          299 

the  destinies  of  40,000  souls,  swore  allegiance  to  the  United  States ; 
and,  requesting  that,  if  the  Americans  ever  withdrew  from  Min- 
danao, the  Moros  should  be  placed  in  control,  firmly  announced, 
at  the  same  time,  their  intention  to  fight  if  the  Americans  should 
ever  take  their  departure.  One  of  the  datus,  Mandi  by  name,  was 
outspoken  in  praise  of  the  present  Government,  and  both  he  and 
the  other  chiefs  declared  that  they  were  contented  with  things  as 
they  are.  Such  testimony  as  is  afforded  by  the  foregoing  incident 
is  not  lightly  to  be  brushed  aside  to  make  way  for  an  abstraction. 
If  disregarded,  then  the  efforts  that  we  have  made  to  better  the 
condition  of  Mindanao,  to  introduce  some  idea  of  law  and  order, 
some  notion  of  the  value  of  peace  and  of  industry,  will  come  to 
a  sudden  end;  for  the  Christianized  Filipinos  can  never  hope  to 
cope  with  the  active  warlike  pirates  of  Moroland.  So  far  as  this 
part  of  the  Archipelago  is  concerned,  a  grant  of  independence  means 
the  re-establishment  of  slavery,  the  recrudescence  of  piracy,*  the 
reincarnation  of  barbarism.  How  great  a  pity  this  would  be  may 
be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  Mindanao  forms  nearly  one-third 
of  the  Archipelago  in  area,  and  exceeds  Java  in  arable  land.  Now, 
Java  supports  a  population  of  over  25,000,000. 

If  we  turn  our  attention  to  the  other  non-Christian  elements 
of  the  Islands,  the  case  is  no  better.  The  Christianized  Filipino 
fears  and  dreads  the  pagan  mountaineers,  the  head-kmiters^  who 
occupy  so  large  a  part  of  Luzon,  the  largest  and  most  important 
island  of  the  Archipelago.  He  grudges  every  centavo  spent  under 
our  direction  for  the  betterment  of  these  truly  admirable  wild  men. 
The  governor,  the  Christian  governor,  of  a  province  bordering  on 
the  wild  men's  territory,  had,  indeed,  no  other  idea  of  the  way  to 
treat  his  pagan  neighbors,  about  50,000  in  number,  than  to  kill 
them  all.  His  argument  was  that  they  were  worse  than  useless: 
why  spend  any  money  on  them,  when,  by  exterminating  them,  all 
questions  affecting  them  would  be  forever  answered?  But,  under 
our  administration,  some  excellent  work  has  been  done,  and  is 

*That  piracy,  even  under  our  strong  control  is  not  dead,  is  shown  by  the  fol- 
owing : 

"MANILA,  April  15 — A  pirate  raid,  is  reported  from  Jolo,  where  a  Japanese 
pearl-fishing  boat  was  found  adrift  and  looted.  The  crew  of  the  pearler  are 
missing,  and  are  believed  to  be  murdered.  The  Mataja  Lighthouse  has  also  been 
attacked  and  robbed,  presumably  by  the  same  band.  Gunboats  have  been  sent  to 
investigate." — New  York  Times,  April  15,  1912. 


300         The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

growing,  to  turn  these  as  yet  unspoiled  peoples  to  account  in  the 
destinies  of  the  Archipelago.  Independence  would  mean  the  end 
of  this  work,  the  restoration  of  the  old  order  of  rapine,  murder,  and 
all  injustice  as  between  Christians  and  pagans,  and  of  internecine 
strife  and  warfare  as  between  the  communities  of  the  pagans  them" 
selves.  That  this  result  would  follow  is  not  even  questioned  by 
those  who  have  acquired  their  knowledge  at  first  hand.  Are  we 
willing  to  shoulder  the  responsibility  of  such  a  result? 

We  have  at  our  very  doors  an  example  of  the  danger  of  in- 
dependence to  a  people  unfitted  for  the  burdens  and  responsibilities 
of  self-government.  We  have  already  since  1900  been  compelled 
once  to  intervene  in  the  affairs  of  Cuba:  the  possibility  of  a  fresh 
intervention  continually  stares  our  statesmen  in  tne  face.  But 
Cuba,  let  it  be  observed,  in  contrast  with  the  Philippines,  has  but 
one  language,  one  religion ;  it  has  no  wild  tribes,  no  Mohammedans  ; 
its  provinces  are  not  separated  from  one  another  by  seas  of  diffi- 
cult navigation,  are  bound  together  by  suitable  communications. 
The  curse  of  Cuba  is  personal  politics:  have  we  any  assurance 
that  this  same  curse  in  a  worse  form  would  not  come  to  blast  the 
Philippines? 

VII. 

Some  of  the  conclusions  reached  or  hinted  at  in  the  course 
fo  this  argument  must  have  formed  themselves  in  the  minds  of  at 
least  a  few  Filipinos  of  independent  character.  Otherwise  how 
shall  we  account  for  the  fact  that  some  declare  their  disbelief  in 
the  possibility  of  independence?  How  else  shall  we  explain  what 
is  far  more  significant,  the  silence  under  this  head  of  the  really 
first-rate  men  of  the  Archipelago?  Is  it  not  worthy  of  note  that 
Rizal  himself,  the  posthumous  apostle  of  the  Philippines,  never 
advocated  or  contemplated  independence?  In  yet  other  cases,  the 
belief  held  finds  expression  in  the  assertion  that  the  Islands  must 
be  declared  independent,  but  only  under  the  protection  of  the 
United  States.  What  that  would  ultimately  mean  is  so  plain  to 
those  who  know  the  country  as  to  require  no  consideration  here. 
It  may  even  be  asserted  on  the  best  of  authority,  so  far  as  any 
authority  is  possible  in  such  a  case,  that  not  even  those  who  shout 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.         301 

the  loudest  for  independence  are  sincere  in  their  clamor:  the  As- 
sembly itself  would  be  seriously  disturbed  if  its  resolution  to  this 
end  should  suddenly  be  honored  by  the  United  States. 

We  make  bold  to  quote  here,  in  full,  a  short  editorial  that 
appeared  in  the  Weekly  Times  of  Manila,  December  30,  1910: 

"Mr.  Perry  Robinson,  whose  articles  on  the  Philippines  are 
now  being  published  by  the  London  Times,  makes  one  point  that 
offers  a  valuable  suggestion  to  our  ardent  friends  of  the  Nationalist 
party.*  While  here,  Mr.  Robinson  interviewed  a  number  of  the 
leaders  of  the  party  and  discovered  that  they  were  all  afraid  of 
immediate  independence.  They  admitted  that  the  country  and 
people  would  not  be  ready  for  it  for  years,  and,  when  pressed  for 
an  explanation,  said  they  feared,  if  they  did  not  press  the  question 
now,  it  would  not  avail  them  to  do  so  later  on.  The  inconsistency 
of  the  present  position  must  strike  every  sensible  person  who  ex- 
amines it.  Let  us  assume  that  the  United  States  Government  de- 
cides at  this  time  to  give  ear  to  the  plea  of  those  who  are  politically 
active  in  the  Philippines — what  will  happen?  It  will  dispatch  a 
commission  or  committee  to  the  Islands  to  examine  the  representa- 
tions of  those  who  make  the  plea.  It  is  admitted  by  even  the  Na- 
tionalist leaders,  when  speaking  privately  on  this  question,  that 
the  people  are  not  ready  to  shift  for  themselves  and  can  not  be  made 
ready  for  some  years.  Surely  it  is  not  believed  that  the  investi- 
gators are  going  to  be  deceived  about  the  real  truth  as  to  conditions 
in  the  Islands,  and  we  are  unable  to  see  what  good  is  to  be  accom- 
plished by  having  this  inquiry  made. 

"Would  it  not  be  infinitely  better  for  the  Nationalist  and 
other  leaders  in  this  country  to  squarely  face  the  facts  and  base 
all  their  future  operations  on  the  facing  of  those  facts?  One  diffi- 
culty is  that  they  have  made  a  lot  of  promises  and  professions  to 
the  people  that  they  are  incapable  of  fulfilling,  and  another  is  that 
they  have  largely  aided  in  deceiving  the  people  themselves  as  to 
where  they  really  stand  and  as  to  what  they  are  really  capable  of 
under  present  conditions.  But  to  go  on  means  discredit  and  failure 
in  the  end,  and  a  greater  work  could  be  done  for  the  country  at 
large  by  squarely  facing  the  facts.  It  must  be  admitted  that 
*The  party  of  immediate  independence. 


302          The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

neither  position  is  especially  pleasant.  There  has  been  created 
among  the  people  a  vanity  of  ability  and  power  that  will  make 
the  blow  a  hard  one;  but,  unless  there  are  Filipino  leaders  capable 
of  making  the  people  realize  the  truth  about  their  position,  there 
is  really  not  much  hope  for  them  in  the  future. 

"The  truth  is,  that  the  race  must  be  built  up  physically  and 
its  numbers  be  enormously  increased  before  it  may  seriously  as- 
sume the  obligations  of  statehood;  and,  for  our  part,  we  await 
the  statesman  who  is  prepared  to  drive  this  and  other  important 
lessons  home  to  the  minds  and  hearts  of  the  people. 

"Assurance  and  pretense  serve  their  purposes  on  many  oc- 
casions, but  they  must  be  set  aside  when  it  comes  to  the  test  that 
will  be  applied  to  the  plea  that  Filipino  leaders  now  make  with 
such  persistency." 

It  is  maintained  that  the  matter  of  this  short  editorial  de- 
serves to  be  as  deeply  pondered  by  the  people  of  the  United  States 
as  by  the  Filipinos  to  whom  it  is  specially  addressed. 

That  all  this  talk  of  independence,  the  motions  to  that  end 
occasionally  made  in  Congress,  the  circulation  of  so-called  anti- 
imperialistic  literature,  have  so  far  endangered  the  real  interests 
of  the  Philippines,  there  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt.  The  inde- 
pendence propaganda  prevents,  or  tends  to  prevent,  recognition 
of  the  fact  that  the  Philippines  will  be  greater  with  the  United 
States  than  they  can  ever  hope  to  be  standing  alone,  if  so  be  that 
they  can  stand  alone  at  all.  It  has  retarded  the  development  of 
the  Islands  and  has  checked  progress.  It  forces  into  the  back- 
ground the  fact  that  with  an  infinitude  of  work  lying  before  Amer- 
icans and  Filipinos  alike,  if  the  Islands  are  to  have  their  full  value 
in  the  world's  economy,  the  best  way  to  do  this  work  is  for  Amer- 
icans and  Filipinos  to  labor  together,  each  contributing  his  share 
to  the  common  result.  Upon  this  safe  ground  both  may  stand. 
"The  law  of  life  is  labor;  the  joy  of  life  is  accomplishment."  But 
we  can  not  labor  if  the  fruits  of  our  toil  may  be  torn  from  us; 
accomplishment  is  impossible  in  the  face  of  uncertainty  and  dis- 
sension. If  our  people  have  the  welfare  of  the  Philippines  genuinely 
at  heart,  it  must  thoroughly  consider  the  question  of  permanent 
retention;  for  this  course,  on  the  one  hand,  would  not  only  clear 


The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon.          303 

away  all  misunderstanding,  but,  on  the  other,  it  would  meet  the 
real  responsibilities  of  the  case.  There  is  no  disposition  here  to 
burke  the  fact  that  these  responsibilities  are  serious,  if  not  onerous ; 
that  they  call  for  administrative  statesmanship  of  a  very  high 
order.  But  we  should  also  recognize  the  fact  that  these  responsi- 
bilities are  ours,  created  by  us,  and  that  our  rejection  of  them  is 
sure  to  be  followed  by  consequences  disastrous,  not  to  us,  but  to 
the  Filipinos  themselves.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  we  accept  these 
responsibilities,  then  sooner  or  later  Americans  and  Filipinos  to- 
gether could  bend  their  energies  to  the  development  of  a  country 
in  which  they  would  now  have  the  same  interest.  And  if,  under 
the  prevailing  uncertainty,  so  much  has  already  been  accomplished 
in  preventing  disease,  abating  epidemics,  building  roads  and  bridges, 
erecting  telegraphs  and  telephones,  lighting  the  coasts,  establish- 
ing courts  of  law,  equalizing  taxation,  conserving  forests,  founding 
schools  and  colleges,  encouraging  commerce  and  agriculture,  what 
may  not  unreasonably  be  expected  if  all  shall  feel  that  the  founda- 
tions of  order,  system,  and  justice  are  permanent,  that  life  is  secure, 
liberty  assured,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness  possible? 

Surely  there  is  significance  in  the  effect  at  once  produced  in 
the  sugar-raising  islands  by  the  passage  of  the  Payne  Bill:  idle 
fields  were  planted  to  cane,  and  the  elections  took  an  unmistakable 
americanista  trend.  There  is  no  better  peacemaker  than  the  pay- 
master. The  Assembly,  it  is  true,  fulminated  against  the  bill: 
success,  prosperity,  contentment  under  its  operation  might  mean 
the  dissolution  of  a  dream.  So  they  might;  but  the  bill  also  cate- 
gorically established  the  possibility,  and  more  than  the  possibility,  of 
permanently  profitable  relations  under  the  aegis  of  the  United  States . 
It  might  even  ultimately  greatly  reduce,  if  not  entirely  destroy,  the 
racial  issue.  Here  is  already  common  ground,  limited  though  it  be, 
on  which  Americans  and  Filipinos  may  and  do  stand  together. 
If  any  doubt  should  exist  on  this-  score,  we  have  but  to  look  at 
Porto  Rico,  whose  total  external  commerce  has  grown,  in  round 
numbers,  from  iy.K  million  dollars  in  1901  to  79  millions  in  1911. 
During  this  same  interval  that  of  the  Philippines  has  risen  from 
53  million  to  90  million  dollars,  nearly  20  millions  of  the  increase 
being  due  to  the  Payne  Bill.  The  population  of  Porto  Rico  (census 


304          The  Head  Hunters  of  Northern  Luzon. 

of  1910)  is  1,120,000;  that  of  the  Philippines,  8,200,000:  the  area 
of  Porto  Rico  is  3,606  square  miles;  that  of  the  Philippines,  128,000 
square  miles.  This  comparison  is  frankly  commercial ;  but  thriving 
commerce  means  prosperity,  and  prosperity  spells  content.  After 
eliminating  certain  natural  and  social  advantages  enjoyed  by  Porto 
Rico,  and  not  by  the  Philippines,  the  vast  economic  difference 
between  the  two  can  be  accounted  for  only  by  the  different  relation 
they  respectively  bear  to  the  United  States,  a  conclusion  confirmed 
by  the  effect  of  the  Payne  Bill.  In  the  case  of  one,  this  relation 
is  denned;  in  that  of  the  other,  undefined.  We  intend  to  re- 
main in  Porto  Rico;  we  do  not  know  what  we  shall  do  with  the 
Philipines. 

VIII. 

To  conclude,  and  in  part  to  repeat:  when  we  took  over  the 
Philippines,  we  unquestionally  at  the  same  time  acquired  a  burden. 
Of  this  burden  we  can  rid  ourselves  by  setting  the  Islands  adrift; 
or  we  can  declare  that  we  intend  to  keep  the  Islands,  as  we  have 
kept  Porto  Rico.  In  the  light  of  the  argument  hereinbefore  sub- 
mitted, which  of  these  courses  appeals  to  the  people  of  the  United 
States?  May  we,  or  may  we  not,  without  incurring  an  accusation 
of  injustice  to  a  dependent  population,  honestly  ask  ourselves  if 
actual  conditions  should  not  sometimes  limit  or  control  the  ap- 
plication of  an  abstract  principle?  Does  our  duty  in  the  premises 
consist  or  not  in  merely  satisfying  such  a  principle?  Is  it  or  is  it 
not  possible  that  practical  considerations — and  what  is  practical 
is  not  always  sordid — may  outweigh  an  abstraction?  Is  it  or  is 
it  not  conceivably  our  duty  to  use  our  superior  knowledge,  power, 
and  experience  to  the  best  advantage  of  those  chiefly  concerned, 
even  if  these  should  apparently  for  a  time  not  agree  with  us  in  the 
application  we  purpose  to  make  of  our  knowledge,  power,  and 
experience  ? 


RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


wf 


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94 


IN  STACKS 


MAR  2  6  1970 


jaa9"» 


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General  Library 

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